Hey look, a review type thing.

I'm writing this because there's been a lot of hubub about Windows 7 lately, particularly now that you can get a release candidate for it. I managed to get it installed on the Gateway Of Epic Win, and am personally impressed with what it's done for this hunk of junk. (I have made peace with the fact that no matter what computer I use, I will find something to complain about on it. Bad computers are particularly prone to incurring my wrath.)

For anyone not up to date, Windows 7 is basically Vista, only shinier, more fun to use, and less problematic. It still has the strange control panel, which I've gotten so used to that I can't really complain anymore. It looks very cool (again, Vista, only shinier).
The two things that really jump out are:
1. Rather than placing individual windows on the taskbar, it places an icon for each application that's open and then opens a sub-window that shows all the windows open for that app. When you mouse over each individual window, it also ghosts out all but the one you have selected. It's actually pretty nice.
2. It runs a lot faster. My laptop only takes about 30 seconds, if that, to start up, which is awesome. On one occasion when I shut it down it actually re-opened the windows I had open when I shut it down. I don't know if that's standard, but we'll see. I thought it was cool.

So far I've had pretty few compatibility issues, it's read external devices alright and hasn't had problems with Gateway hardware drivers.
Unfortunately, I was an idiot and forgot that a new operating system means re-installing EVERYTHING. All my computer documentation and most of my software is being stored in Cleveland, where I will not be till August. I forgot to install office, which means writing on Notepad for 2 1/2 months, and while I did bring my tablet and driver along in the event 7 likes it better than vista, I forgot the pen. Apparently I can be pretty absent-minded.

Anyways, if you do get a chance to try it out, go for it. All the release candidates are going to die when 7 fully releases this year, but until then, it's still worth looking at.