First off.. I have 21 years in IT as a professional and hold numerous certifications. By no means, am I "sold" to Windows although I am a Microsoft Systems Engineer. BY THE WAY… MANY OF YOU WHO ARE RUNNING VISTA ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A FREE UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 7 FROM MICROSOFT. For more information… Go here.. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/buy/offers/upgrade-option.aspx Is my system ready for Windows 7? If you are running Vista.. Yes... Are you running XP? Then perhaps........ Microsoft has an upgrade advisor tool available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx This past year in June, I attended TechEd in LA.. Microsoft's premier annual event and had the pleasure of meeting and working with the Windows 7 dev team. As a result of this.... I have had access to the RTP (Release to Production)version of Windows 7 Ultimate for quite some time now. I agree with the author.. (Although I disagree that Win 98 was a "good" OS, although it was a gui breakthrough for the normal user).. In a nutshell... Windows 7 looks like Vista, but plays like XP Pro... but even better..... About pricing… There are a few versions.. But the three most basic are: Windows7 Home Windows7 Professional And (my favorite…) Windows 7 Ultimate…$ Assuming you already own a copy of Windows (example.. Windows XP, Vista, 2000, etc..) Here’s (retail) what it will cost you.. (upgrade) (but watch out for sales… I saw one retailer already has $15 coupons for a current pre-order…) Remember.. If you own Vista.. you may be getting your copy if Windows7 for free… Home - $119.99, Pro-$199.99 and Ultimate-$219.99 If you are running Vista.. Should you upgrade? ABSOLUTELY. Simply put.. Vista is crap... In fact, during the TechEd Keynote, we were told.. "Forget about Vista".. Just as "Win98 Me" was a catastrophic failure and poor OS... So was Vista... (Sorry.. Its the truth) BY THE WAY… MANY OF YOU WHO ARE RUNNING VISTA ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A FREE UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 7 FROM MICROSOFT. Is it fast? Oh goodness.. Is it ever... Windows 7 boots up faster than any other OS Microsoft has ever released. The architecture utilizes a computer's memory better than any previous Windows Operating System. Is my system ready for Windows 7? If you are running Vista.. Yes... Are you running XP? Then perhaps........ Microsoft has an upgrade advisor tool available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx Tired of closing multiple windows and don’t know keyboard shortcuts? No worries! Shake it Shake it… Simply drag your mouse cursor to the toolbar of an open window, click, hold and shake.. No more Windows… It’s more secure, faster, less buggy, user friendly, intuitive, .. It’s incredible… For us geeky geeks... Virtual PC is included with Ultimate.. Is it worth it??? Absolutely.. Certainly… You betcha….