FYI- I'm comparing this directly to a new install of XP on my HP laptop, still much faster. And I'm an IT Tech, so my 7 year old XP PC was still running just as fast as when I bought it (actually, faster). It runs fast because it's a good OS.

I don't know, even with tweaks Vista has always been slow on my laptop made for it (and it's a pretty damn good laptop too).

Vista was a mess to begin with.

my Core 2 Duo 1.73ghz T5300 1GB DD2 667mhz IGP 950  takes almost 30s to boot on vista, around 20s on 7 and 15-10 on Ubuntu.

but for gaming perfomance i get the same FPS in Wow and lineage 2.

i was going to build new desktop to play games, but it doens't sound like a big improvement in speed, it's better than vista, but that something to be proud of.

I've been running W7 RC on my Acer 5920G laptop since it came out, and I am very very pleased with both the performance, features and UI. Big improvement over Vista in pretty much every area.

My desktop is still on XP, will probably upgrade when W7 final is out.

So much BS, LOL!

I see MS shills have started doing their work. Well, more power to them.

I know this still isn't for me as someone that use his time to reinstall OS on all three of his machines, including old XP:

- have no valuable data or program which he must keep for years,

- doesn't make any valuable work with any valuable program, as it's well known that reinstalling all your programs is a very tedious task in Windows,

- has his OS that do not work well (despite "And I'm an IT Tech", LOL), or he wouldn't go around reinstalling them everytime, especially fresh so that there's no speed decrease,

- supposedly has his 7 year old PC running just as fast as when he bought it (yet he reinstalled it LOL). Even the Windows guru (people that even debug MS software better than MS people) I know can't manage this feat, but you will find plenty of people on the Internet that miraculously manage that. Oh wrong, the guru manages it as long as the OS is never updated, never connected, and never installed anything newer than a selective bunch of programs tested on it for stability.

- ...

Well, I don't really want to derail this thread.

Just to say that the OP appeared like an obvious MS shill (or astroturfer, as he doesn't openly says he's a shill) to me.

For the (douche) record, I'm an IT Tech too (IT architect actually), and I have all these Linux systems all around the house, since 2001, with the main one staying up 24/24 7/7, running 3 desktops simultaneously since 2001, including most of my precious servers (mail, web, ...) with no antivirus slowing everything (as viruses just can't work on Unix like systems like Linux), containing my precious data dating back to 1991, and staying up without crashing, always as fast (actually faster compared to 2001), most of the time running for months without a reboot (until I decide that I should really update to the new kernel, which won't even require a reboot either soon, or when I decided that I should finally use the new glibc I installed), with all my programs still running.

I'm not even talking about my MythTV setup running flawlessly since 2005. All that for free.

So excuse me if I'm not impressed, and if I don't believe one word of what you said in the OP.

I have one Windows XP client in the house though (rarely turned on, rarely used, and even then it manages to rot), I should try this Windows 7 if there's a free version somewhere, so that I can see for myself and finally believe Windows has improved.

I remember the same amazing things were said for every Windows OS since XP, and it was always total BS every single time I tried these Windows OS. Man, to think that some things I needed back in 2000, like several simultaneous desktops for everyone in the house, no virus, no disk defragmenting, are still not available in Windows OS, while I had them since back then on Linux. Seriously.

But I'll try this Windows 7 when I have time, I heard there's a free RC version somewhere that implodes after some time. I hope it installs in multiboot, as I won't kill even my old Windows XP client to install autodestructing software.

I always find it amusing when Linux people find it necessary to enter anything talking about Windows and talk about the obvious MS shill and forget they sound the exact same freaking way.  Just replace every instance or MS with Lunix or whatever they're shilling and there you go.

Wow, Im going to try Win7 on a knackered desktop (takes minutes to boot).

@ Twestern - that sounds like M$ shill talk.

Wow, that is the biggest load of crap I have seen for a while.... here, have a gold star, it's called the "craptastic award", you deserve it!

Vista isn't that bad, but since I have a free upgrade for my Vaio notebook might as well...

Ok, you troll. I do this for a living. Every word I said was true. Don't you EVER f@#%ing call me a liar, that's huge to me and I consider it to be a direct insult to my character. My XP machine HAS been running for 7 years (24/7/365 without issue), I've never had a virus, it runs better than when I bought it and it's NEVER been reinstalled. Period. That's because I know how to keep it running that way. I refuse to let you call me a liar, especially since you haven't even had the opportunity to try Windows 7 yourself. You're an uninformed fanboy (on this matter), nothing more.

I call BS on you, you and your uninformed useless post.

EDIT: And for the record, on the subject of you mocking me being an 'IT Tech', my official title is Network Engineer. I am personally and exclusively responsible for the complete management and maintenance of 17 small businesses networks in the Atlanta area, one of which has 20 locations (leasing offices distributed through the area and down into Columbus, Albany & Savannah). I manage and maintain everything from the desktop PCs (Windows 2000, XP & Vista), helpdesk calls, Active Directory (server 2000, 2003, and 2008), MS Excahnge (2003 & 2007), Microsoft SQL Server (2000 & 2005), Sharepoint Services, IIS Web Services, Group Policy design for granular security management of all PCs, Windows Server Update services to keep all PCs up to date from a central location, and use VMWare ESX/ESXi for Hypervisor hardware virtualization. In addition, I have implemented an automated set of maintenance routines that keep the number of crashes and bugs on all of these machines very low. I also manage a centralized monitoring solution called Managed Workplace that monitors all PCs I am responsible for everything from hard disk problems to security breaches to viruses (and MUCH more). In addition, designed & manage several IPSec VPN topologies to connect my clients that have multiple locations (including the one with 20 branch offices). I also implement DFS (distributed file system) replication to replicate shared data across multiple servers for many of my customers. I am very successful at what I do, and I take serious issue with you calling me a liar and questioning my integrity. It was both childish and pathetic.