I installed this a few days back and it's awesome. I ran into a few problems beforehand but they were mainly from what I did. I burned the image thrice because the first two times I used this brand of DVD-Rs that were terrible and ended up with errors. Then when I finally got the image on a decent disc, it seemed to be stuck on the "completing installation" part so I restarted (huge mistake) and that caused it to say something like "setup couldn't finish, restarting to finish" every single time it started up. So it was effectively stuck in a loop. Reinstalling and waiting until the setup properly finished fixed this. I didn't really test it for game performance but I think I'll stick with Windows XP for that anyway (unless there are some DirectX 10 exclusive features that actually matter). It's so smooth and shiny that it's enjoyable just using going through the menus and all that. I would be using it as my main operating system if there were an easier way to have all my settings from my Windows XP partition transfer over to Windows 7.

I'm using the 64-bit version, by the way. Here are my main computer specs in case you're wondering:

CPU: Q6600 at stock 2.4GHz speed
GPU: 8800GT 512MB at stock speed
RAM: 4GB of DDR2 800 ram

I set out a 50GB partition for it and it's using a good 20GB or so of that (I did install a few things, though). I'm using the nVidia drivers that came through windows update. I tried using later ones (181.10 and 185.20) and while they installed and worked (with better performance than the windows update one), they gave me some ugly graphical glitches. One of the reasons for me installing this was to see DirectX 10 in action. Not really impressed but the Cryostasis tech demo (which is DirectX 10 only for some reason) was rather awesome. One thing that I don't like about Windows 7 is that I can't install unsigned drivers. I think this only applies to the 64-bit edition. It's not that big of a problem but it can get in the way. Other than that, I like this a lot and I will most likely purchase the retail version when it's available and at a reasonable price.

I can install most things just fine, it's just when it's trying to install unsigned drivers where it's a problem. Even running it as administrator doesn't work.

if you want to install those when you are starting up go into the boot menu for windows by pressing F8 or SOMETHING(im pretty sure its f8)  then in that menu it says something about DISABLE ONLY LETTING ME INSTALL SIGNED DRIVERS

i had to do that for ddr

Oh, cool. I'll try that the next time I reboot. Thanks.

I don't care about the new taskbar, desktop features, blah blah.

My main concern for Windows 7 is compatibility. Seriously, Vista has SO many problems with software compatibility it's ridiculous. I'd be on XP right now if Dell would give me the proper drivers for my laptop, but they won't. Also, if Microsoft wanted to actually be cool, they'd make a proper emulation system for DOS in Windows 7. It would be awesome to play ancient DOS games in Windows 7 right out of the box; WITHOUT having to use Dosbox!

I don't know the details but I know Microsoft took a different approach to compatibility in Windows 7 than they did in Vista so let's hope it's a good change.

On the go is a different story.

i have never had to photoshop while walking!

that sounds crazy 

Don't mind me, just removing some redeye from last night's snaps while on the bus home

http://lifehacker.com/5132073/the-best-new-windows-7-keyboard-shortcuts

Windows key + up/down arrow controls maximize and minimize. It's about friggen time.

i have never had to photoshop while walking!

that sounds crazy 

i photoshop on the subway everyday

Don't mind me, just removing some redeye from last night's snaps while on the bus home

You could do that with Vistas built in image editor you cheeky monkey!!!

I won't get to install Windows 7 until later today, I just read about Microsoft saying that they were approaching compatibility differently.  And like I said before, it's just a DIFFERENT approach, so I'm just hoping it's a good one, I have no idea!