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Installation
My installation was done with a 250Gb SATA2 drive in AHCI mode and took about 20 mins to install. All devices were found and installed automatically, this included installing additional software to control my Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft VX3000 Webcam and my Saitek X52 Pro with Pro Flight Rudder Pedals! I literally only had to plug them in, now hows that for Plug and Play!

The only thing that didn't install when I installed Windows 7 on my girlfriends computer was her Samsung G600 phone, but I believe that is due to lack of support from Samsung.

Usage
I have only just installed Windows 7 over the last couple of weeks and already I am blown away by how fast and easy it is to use, even compared to Windows Vista. The window controls and management has been greatly tweaked, allowing you to do nearly anything you like with window positioning sinply by dragging with or without key combinations depending on what you need to do with it.

Speed
Compared with Windows Vista, they have done what they said they were going to do and completely reworked a lot of the performance lagged areas, like USB, Networking and general performance of the complete system. I plugged my Kingston 8Gb pen drive in and before I could look back at the screen it was installed and ready to use, on most Vista machines, this would normally take about 2-10 seconds to complete. Overall the driver installation process is so much faster than Vista, which is good news to people who are getting techy's in with an hourly rate! I even have to say that this is even faster than Windows XP on a clean install, Microsoft finally got it right.

Networking
The networking side is much faster, and with new features like Home Groups which allow much easier networking to be achieved, general internet speeds seem to be less delayed when performing searches which has to be good news for ADSL users than can only use telephone line based internet.

Gaming
This area is crucial to so many people, and you won't be disappointed! It seems Windows 7 isn't as much of a memory/performance drag when sitting in the background of games, I play FSX, and can now play it at full everything with very little delays, whereas in Windows Vista, I had to reduce a lot of visual effects to get it to keep a good framerate.

Memory Usage
Well I use 4Gb of ram, and I am currently editing this document with Notepad++ and also have Firefox (facebook, online booking system, Google Search and this page previewed running), Windows Explorer, Windows Live Messenger and Outlook 2007 all running, and I'm only using 33% of my memory, and currently my CPU usage is usually 0-2% when switching apps etc!

Visuals
I have to admit that even the visual looks of Windows 7 look much better than Windows Vista, the taskbar even looks as slim as the system runs, the Start button actually went on a diet as well and now fits in the taskbar, as if Vista's Start button had been fed on Twinkie's for a little too long and hung it's belly over the Desktop. The interactions and effects of windows and animations are also cleaned up, very smooth and nice to play with, even a veteran like me still hovers over the icons of Windows 7 and says, "Ah, nice".

Conclusion
Hmmm, in three words... GO BUY IT!

Well, many moons ago, I was fortunate to be able to try out the pre-release of Windows Vista, the release being Release Candidate 1 (RC1). I have to confess to slating Vista at this very early age due to the size and lack of functionality, felt just like XP, but with an addition of 400 pounds of uselessness throw in for good measure. Nothing seemed to work well, still very buggy, and so many features were pointless in my opinion.

I decided to go all out and buy Vista 64 Home Premium Edition, and now that I have upgraded my system spec to allow me to see the full potential of Vista64, I have to eat humble microchip pie and confess that my initial feelings for this OS may have been a little premature!

After I installed Vista64, I was pleasantly surprised to see that 90% of my system drivers were installed, the only thing that it didn't install was the card reader part of my keyboard and the onboard sound, this proably due to the fact that the board is brand new and will not have the soundcard support built into Vista64, saying that, it took me no time to be on the internet, downloading, then installing the Vista64 drivers for the remainders that were overlooked.

The feeling of Vista64 as you move around etc. is second to none, graphically the desktop is pleasing to the most GUI of erm, GUI's! The animations and movements of the windows and menu's on the desktop etc. are mind blowing to say the least, and anyone wishing to purchase Vista of any description, wants to at least go for the Home Premium edition which comes with the AERO animation side of things.

There are a few new games with Vista, more utils and a better layout for the advanced user as well as some really wicked keyboard shortcuts that blow you away.

The novice won't be put off by upgrading to Vista, as Microsoft have stuck to the XP layout to a high degree keeping the average user comfy in their newly decorated desktop.

Verdict
Vista is a leap from XP as XP was from Win98, so much potential and I've only just scratched the surface of features that are available and advantageous to the average user as well as us pro's, I've even got my copy ordered already!
Scores

Compatability : 3/5 : A lot of people will need to upgrade to appreciate this beasty, but very worth it.
Ease Of Use : 5/5 : You can jump from XP and still find your way around in about 10 minutes.
Configuration : 5/5 : You can configure so much of Vista its unreal.
Upgradability : 5/5 : The fact that you can simply upgrade from XP to Vista has to be a must for most.
Performance : 4/5 : Lost a point mainly down to the system specifications required to run it, but its worth the hardware upgrade.
Reliability : 5/5 : The recovering side of Vista is outstanding and much more user friendly than XP. For reference I have only seen Vista bomb out in the RC1!

Score : 27/30 : We have a winner!