Domain and Forest Functional Levels

There seems to be a certain amount of confusion surrounding Domain and Forest functional levels.  Microsoft’s own documentation doesn’t always incorporate the latest version information.  KB322692 is a case in point.  I also often hear the words “Native” and “Mixed” in relation to functional levels involving Windows Server 2003 or 2008, when in fact these terms are only relevant in the context of Windows 2000 Server.  Anyway, in an effort to clarify the situation and to avoid confusion I put together the tables below.