I’ve installed the M3 build of Windows 7 a week ago. I’ve installed it on my production laptop – all or nothing! :)  I had no problems with it at all, in fact, it’s a little bit faster than Vista was on the same hardware – will see how it changes after I install SQL and a few other apps.

I’m in a state of playing with it at the moment and found a funny feature that I couldn’t find documented so far – if I grab a window and shake it a little bit, all windows will minimize, except the one that I’ve grabbed.

I had one issue so far – it was with Windows Internet Explorer. It was crashing after I’ve installed the Adobe Viewer and Skype. I’ve disabled both add-ins and the problem was solved. I guess, there’s some compatibility issue with IE 8 extensibility which the guys will sort out in the next Beta releases.

One small issue that I’d note and I couldn’t figure out so far, was with video playing. The video is breaking up sometimes, like if the processor was not strong enough to play it. I’ll keep you posted if I find a solution.

These features were the most exciting in the last week:

• The new taskbar: quick start and running programs are integrated. A good example: even when Outlook is running, I have only one Outlook icon on my screen (even if the Start menu is opened). In the past, I had one in the quick launch, one in the taskbar (running) and one in Start menu. It’s just much more logical and simple
• Audio improvements: applications can be associated with different output devices (Media Player will use the speaker and Communicator/Skype will use your USB headset). When you receive a call, the music will automatically pause/lower
• Network Centre: it’s just much more logical
• Improved desktop search experience: if I type “encrypt”, BitLocker is coming up. You can simply write around what you are looking for and Desktop Search will find it for you
• Ribbon everywhere: Paint has a ribbon and have you seen the new calculator? :)

So, if you ask me – I do recommend installing Windows 7. It’s very exciting and quite stable!