For all the shortcomings that everyone else had with Vista, I didn't mind it.  Well, I mean, I could put up with some of the annoying features in order to gain the benefits of the instant search, and various other new tools.

Windows 7 however, is probably the best, most polished software that Microsoft has put out, well... ever!

So, to start out, let me explain a bit of details.  We have been running running various release candidates of Windows 7 since they became available.  Upon first look, it seemed a lot like Vista with a few upgrades to me, so I waited for the release of the complete public version before installing it on my office PC.

I have a lot of data, (probably nearing 1TB) stuffed into my office system.  It is a quad core CPU, with 8GB RAM, and running a RAID-0 stripe to improve speeds.  I also run dual screens, and each screen has a dedicated 512MB Nvidia GPU.

So, admittedly, I probably enjoyed Vista mroe than 95% of others out there due to the fact that I ran it on smokin fast hardware.

My Windows 7 upgrade experience was flawless.  I inserted the Windows 7 64bit DVD into the DVD tray, and let it autorun.  I chose the option to upgrade and away we went.

First of all, Windows 7 looked at my hardware and software, and determined that I may run into a problem with a printer I had connected.  (thanks I guess) and other than that it was a fairly unattended install.  I did some work in our tech room and impatiently waited for my machine to either crash and burn, or install....

After about 1hr, the install was completed.  I was surprised to find my machine sitting at a familiar login screen.  I went ahead and logged in, and found that everything was already working.  No drivers to install, or issues of any kind.

I immediately tried opening IE, and various other apps and ran the internal benchmarks for Win 7.  All in all, it was the best upgrade experience I have encountered.

The instant search functionality is even better than that of Vista.  I was immediately using it to look for some customer documents on our main file server share.  I did not have to select any settings, it just knew enough to include that in the index.

The interface is a lot cleaner, with much fewer buttons and distractions.  Changing themes was kinda cool (stuff you can do with 3rd party apps, but built in is better in my opinion)

This is going to sound stupid, but when in Windows explorer, the menu system I found to be WAY better because there was less items.  And there is a huge button for "new folder" the thing I seem to always struggle finding (not sure why) in Vista.

Favorite locations for files and folders makes much more sense, and the way the OS handles your data is much more refined.  (Properties pages for my docs, my pics, etc allow for a lot customization and sharing) 

I'll post more as I begin to find new tips and tricks, but I think this is a home run for Microsoft.  Good job guys!!