Been using the Pre-Beta since November, onto the Windows 7 7000 now, had no problems definitely looking good,

XP eat your heart out, no upgrade from XP to 7,

I've finally got Win7 running on a Virtual Machine, which is nice but I think I'll install it on it's own HD just to take advantage of the full system resources.  It's a tad slow when competing for the RAM with XP.  I haven't loaded any programs on it yet, probably wont' until I get it on my extra 60 Gb hardrive.  (Laptop)  So far, so good.

In my opinion it *looks* like the most desktop friendly OS available... If *feels* stable enough to be a microsoft release (which is really scary )...

I should have done that with Vista.  Once I got the balls up to install it, I was glad I did.  And I find I'm in it more than XP now.  Whooda thunk it.

That's half the problem... some people fear change, others don't want to be bothered with learning new things... and others, it would seem, are afraid they don't have the mental capacity to learn a new OS.

The other half of the problem... so-called experts who are stuck in a rut and think the tried and true is best; people who put the mocker on new things simply because they fit into all of the above and don't want to expose their fears and ignorance... and then there's the sceptical detractor who has no real reason but puts the mocker on progress/something new just because they can.

The latter particularly annoy me because they perpetuate ignorance and ill-will based on what is usually an uninformed opinion of something they know little or nothing about.  While Vista mave have had some shortcomings and inadequacies to begin with, much of its failure to break into the OS market was due to bad press from these armchair experts who think they know what people like, want need and formulate a one-eyed opinion accordingly.

Fortunately, I am not one of those sheep who blindly follow and believe these armchair experts... I tried Vista for myself and liked it for what it did for me, not what someone says it 'should' do for me.  The same applies with Win 7, I will either buy or not buy it based on my own obsevations, wants and needs.  I don't care if 'joe wanker' over at PC User thinks Aero and the GUI is crap, or that it should or should not have this or that particular feature... if Win 7 pleases me and suits my personal wants and needs, that's all that matters.  Besides, I loves new toys... and when that new toy becomes a useful part of everyday life it's a win, win situation for me.

Remember that people in the know refer to that rag of a magazine as PC LUser for a reason...

What did I miss out on?

Do we know this for sure?

In any case, sometimes it's good to reinstall anyways. Especially since you'll likely want to upgrade to the 64 bit version, which I'd highly recommend for future memory expansion and increased security measures such as PatchGuard.

With Seniors, this could certainly be a real issue.

Yup. "I've been using this for years with no problems, and I don't possibly see how this new thing is better" is common. Problem is, many of them don't even try the new stuff, leading to a purely one-sided argument.

Not much. You just took more chances sticking to an OS with inferior security. In addition, Windows 7 will have the same improvements that Vista had: Improved search, improved troubleshooting, a hardware accelerated UI, and the ability to pre-load software into memory, just to name a few.

Basically you decided to delay getting all of the benefits of Vista.

The biggest benefit is security. Not just UAC, either: For a lot of people, switching to Vista also means switching to a 64 bit OS, and this gives them PatchGuard, which helps keep malicious code out of the critical kernel sections and makes it nearly impossible to rootkit.

In addition, Microsoft has released many patches that are "Critical" in XP because XP runs pretty much everything with Admin privileges, but only "Important" in Vista because Vista's security measures protect system files and default to being run at lower privilege levels.

Didn't you know, Monkeys have always been either nerds, or astronauts! 

I remember when MS came out with the Mojave Project - which was Vista put on a laptop and taken around various locations for people, primarily Vista haters/detractors to try out.  Most respondants were impressed and quite liked the 'new' OS... and then they were told they had just been using Vista.  Funnily enough, but not unexpected, most of those respondants had a low opinion of Vista prior to the 'Mojave' trial, based largely on bad press releases and less than glowing magazine reviews.... word of mouth from other Vista detractors who heard from a friend who, heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who said Vista would mess them around.

I have a friend who owns his own PC store and prefers XP.... he's not overly fond of Vista, either, but he doesn't refuse to sell or install Vista.  Can't get XP here in Oz anymore, so it's either sell Vista or nothing, OS-wise... not that software/OSes make up the bulk of his sales/income.  Great service and more than reasonable prices, backed by a great word-of-mouth network are what keep people going back over and over again.

And a story Microsoft would not be happy with.  In fact, disabling a major component of XP machines he sells could be in violation of his vendors agreement... and given all the nasties out there requiring patches, anyone with half a brain would go elsewhere to get an XP based PC built.

The biggest difference between Win Vista and 7 sofar is the task bar. It takes a little getting used to, but it seems like a nice concept. I can't pass total judgment on it until I've had a good week or so to really use it, but I can say with some certainty that the folks who disliked Vista will probably dislike 7 just as much. Vista users will take to 7 a lot faster than XP users will.