Due to some problems with my laptop (requiring return to Gateway for repairs), I decided that I would install Windows 7.  I am geek anyways.  I love new toys, new servers, new operating systems, new browsers, and Silverlight. It takes me about 4 hours at most to restore my system to a working state.   That being said, I would have done it even if I did not have to reinstall my operating system to factory default before sending it in.  

I was more than pleased with the beta release.  Here are some noteworthy things about Windows 7:

1.  
   1. Startup and Shutdown times are significantly reduced.
   2. The Task bar has been revamped and seems much more functional.
   3. All the icons on the taskbar and system tray can be moved around.
   4. When you mouse over IE  in the taskbar it shows all your open tabs in preview windows.
   5. When you mouse over one of the preview windows for a second, it will bring that tab/window to the front so you can see the full window.  When you move off the preview window, it restores your previous view.
   6. If you shake a windows title bar all other windows are minimized.

My wife did a fresh install, and I did both the upgrade and the fresh install.  The installation in all cases went pretty much flawless.  Almost all my drivers where there out of the box.  My wife had to download drivers for her SD Card reader.  We also had a few hiccups with printing and getting on the network.  My wife’s wireless network card on Vista supported 11g Enhanced it would not connect on Windows 7.  I had to switch my network to 11b/11g Standard for her wireless card to connect.  If anyone else is having wireless issues, try switching your network to 11b/11g Standard.   I am attempting a blend project today on Windows 7 and will let you know how the development experience goes.   All-in-all, I am very pleased with how stable and refreshing the this OS release is.

Thanks and code happy,

Bill

***Edit*****

Virtual Clone Drive and Magic Disk do not work with Windows 7 at this point.  These programs also uninstall incorrectly.  I am curious on why windows has not added support for mounting iso.  All my msdn subscriber downloads are iso's.   Why waste the disk by burning it?

Getting an activation key from MSDN subscriber downloads is also broken.