For the record, Windows 7 will not be a panacea for all Operating System problems. There are bugs even in the Release Candidate of Windows 7 that have not been discovered yet. I repeat, there will be bugs and security holes. To expect otherwise, is folly.
That being said, I've heard really good things about Windows 7, and won't have a problem upgrading when my current Vista machines need hardware upgrades.
Here's an interesting study I remember reading about. Link follows:
Microsoft gathered a group of Windows XP users, and were told they were test-driving the new version (after Vista) of Windows code-named Windows Mojave. They were asked for their response to a couple of Mojave demos, and the results were positive. XP Users indicated that they liked Mojave. They were then told that Mojave was actually Vista.
From the article:
"Microsoft's rationale for the project was to show that people's negative perceptions of Vista have been influenced more by what they've heard than by what they've experienced, and Webster suggested that the positive results of Mojave were a form of vindication for Microsoft.
'And the hypothesis was confirmed when across the board, participants concluded that they needed to take another look before simply accepting what they'd heard,' Webster wrote. 'Again, we know from lots of user and non-user data that the closer they look the more they will like it. We just needed to give them a reason to take another look.'"
What's more, Microsoft originally planned to have a fun section of the website, showcasing people who refused to budge on their anti-Vista stance even after the demos, but they had to scrap that, as they had no one that did.
My point isn't that Vista doesn't have its problems, or that manufacturers didn't drop the ball in putting Vista on machines barely meeting the minimum system requirements. My point is that a great deal of many people's perception of Vista is based on what they've heard, rather than any concrete complaints about the OS itself. I am not speaking of Camac, of course, or anyone who has a valid complaint about the OS. Just that there are a great many people who have an impression of Vista that is based on what they've heard through blogs or the news, and not with a trial or experience of their own.
Article about the Mojave Experiment:
http://www.crn.com/software/210201062;jses...LRSKH0CJUNN2JVNThe Mojave Experiment Official Website:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mojave-experiment/