So, Windows 7 is RTM now. And presales are running rampant. I hate to say it but I haven’t had a chance to preview it (yes, I downloaded an RC or two but I hadn’t had the time to setup a VM to test it on). Maybe now’s a good time to do so!
Vista was a complete mess. There was no reason to upgrade to it unless you were an uber hard-core gamer (like a friend of mine) and really really wanted DirectX 10 support. Well, after watching said friend run into wall after wall (mostly driver incompatibility walls), I sat back with my XP install and continued to enjoy everything Windows XP had to offer…like a stable platform to be productive on.
Will Windows 7 be the anti-Vista and actually bring more people like me back into the Microsoft OS upgrade loop again? Maybe. The biggest single hurdle for me (beyond having to deal with the annoyance of reinstalling everything again) is whether or not all my XP apps and games will install and run just as smoothly (if not smoother) on Windows 7 as they did on XP.
I guess we’ll know in a couple weeks…though, despite not knowing, I do have an outstanding pre-order with Amazon. 
kn
