Windows 7 so far

I've got to say, my experience with the Windows 7 Beta has been very pleasant so far! Since I was reconfiguring the hard drives on my computer into a RAID array, I had to install it from scratch, without upgrading Vista. This is how I would have chosen to do it anyways, since I don't really trust "upgrading" an OS. In any case, I dumped anything I wanted to keep onto my Home Server, and rebuilt my desktop.

The thing I like most about the Windows 7 is that they're made an effort to make it cleaner and faster. There's no more Sidebar, like in Vista. Also, the Quick Launch bar is integrated into the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. An application is highlighted if it is running, and can be pinned there with a right-click if you want to keep it there. The Start button looks like just another icon, so it maintains a very clean look. Here, Chrome and Paint are running, and I've moused-over Chrome to get a preview:

It's nice, because it keeps your takbar nice an organized. If you click on app that is running, it will shift focus to the app. If the app isn't running, the click will start the app instead.

The Notification Area has also been reworked. You can configure it to hide, show only notifications, or always show anything that goes down there. Again, it's quite easy to keep that area clean.

There are a ton more features, but I haven't had a chance to play with them all yet. So far, this feels like a faster, leaner Vista with some nice UI tweaks. And honestly, that's enough to sell me on it so far.