The last OS release from Microsoft after Windows XP, was Vista. It took them 7 years to bring out a new release, and it was almost universally hated. How embarrassing. Many home users were forced to use it cause if you buy a new PC you have no other option. Even after making XP end of life they have to bring it back form the dead cause people were so unhappy. The adoption rate for latge businesses was only about 5%.

So, Micro$oft knew that they could not afford to make this mistake twice. Instead of some crappy name, their next relase is simply called “Windows 7″. I got my hands on a beta copy and just installed it tonight. I did not want to abandon XP just yet, but it does a very nice little dual boot on a spare hard drive or empty partition and installs quickly.

I like it. I like it a lot. I have barely scratched the surface of what it can do, but you know when you just get a good feeling about something from the start. It boots really quick, its smooth. It’s intuative and works the way you’d hope.

ArsTechnica have written a great “First Look” article if you want to see a more in depth review

More photos below: