A few days ago I decided to take the plunge and install Windows 7 RC 1 as the main operating system on my laptop.  I had heard from quite a few people on twitter that had done so, and decided that I was feeling just crazy enough to do it myself.  I was due for an OS refresh anyway, so why not roll the dice and go with the well-reviewed Windows 7?  Although I was actually pretty happy with Vista (as opposed to some out there), there were a few quirks that I was hoping Windows 7 would address.  And after using the new OS for the past few days, I am happy to see improvements on the issues I have had!

Now, I’m not going to write a long rambling review here, you can find such things from much more reliable sources.  However, I do want to record my first impressions after using Windows 7 for the past few days. 

1. User Account Control (UAC):  The UAC is well-known as a Windows Vista annoyance.  It was introduced as a mechanism for increased security in Vista, but it also successfully annoyed users left and right.  Windows 7 made this much less annoying, I no longer get prompts to run IIS or other administrative tools.  Sure, I could have just disabled UAC in Vista, but with Windows 7 I haven’t had to even consider that.
2. Wireless access:  I don’t know if this was just a problem with my computer, but there were times that connecting to wireless would take 10 minutes or more after coming out of standby.  With Windows 7, connecting to the wireless is almost immediate every time.  That, my friends, is a win.
3. Performance:  Vista performed ok for the most part, but of course it lagged at times also.  So far, Windows 7 has felt "snappier".  I haven’t really quantified this with real numbers, but perception is often reality in computing.
4. User Experience:  Windows 7′s biggest UI change has been the taskbar.  The quick launch toolbar is gone and replaced with the option to pin applications to the taskbar.  Also, by default it looks like multiple instances of a running application are collapsed into one icon on the taskbar (IE, multiple Windows Explorer instances).  At first I wasn’t sure that I liked this feature, but it is growing on me.  Outside of the taskbar, documents and short-cuts have been re-arranged a bit in Explorer.  I liked the way it was in Vista, but I think Windows 7 has made some subtle improvements here.

That is all of my impressions so far.  Overall, I absolutely love Windows 7, and I can certainly see why it is gaining accolades over the ‘net.  As opposed to Windows Vista (versus XP), I can’t see why anyone would doubt that Windows 7 is Microsoft’s best operating system to date.  The release candidate has been very stable and, well, awesome!  I’m certainly looking forward to the full version when it is released!