Wow. Awesome.

Quoted: After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced. It's a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers

Quoted: In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple's Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That's no longer true.

Quoted: Bottom line: Windows 7 is a very good, versatile operating system that should help Microsoft bury the memory of Vista and make PC users happy.

There is a hardware "tax" today, but for how long? The more popular Apple systems are, the more the sell, and the cheaper they'll get. It's certainly no reason to be lax. It reminds me of when Apple was just a blip on the radar (think back to 2000) and was largely ignored by Redmond for years.

Quoted: As reported by Todd Bishop of TechFlash, Ballmer offered his theory as to why Macintosh sales fell 16 percent in February, according to stats from market-researcher NPD Group:

Quoted: "The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment -- same piece of hardware -- paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."

Quoted: The Mac vs. PC argument is an old one, certainly, and Ballmer's hardly an impartial observer in the debate. But does Steve have a point? Take the MacBook, for instance. The white 13-inch model with a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip, 2GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive is still $999. Compared to similarly-equipped Windows notebooks, that's awfully pricey.

Wow. Great write-up of Windows 7...

Quoted: Windows Client division is now best example and model for every other Microsoft division to follow. Windows 7 Beta 1 is remarkable resurrection. From the crash called Windows Vista comes a phoenix. Management clearly is the difference between Seven and Vista.

Quoted: Under former Platform and Services division president Jim Allchin's leadership, or lack of it, Windows ran to ruin. Windows Vista is a management, development and marketing disaster. The product has done irreparable harm to Microsoft's corporate identity and to the Windows brand. Windows Vista is a failure by every milestone that matters: Performance, compatibility, usability and adoption.

Quoted: Now contrast Vista development to Windows 7. The management team has done what a year ago I would have asserted as impossible: Fix Vista's problems and reinvent Windows. Seven is a solid and exciting product, even in beta.

Quoted: Only focused, disciplined management could produce from the Vista train wreck a better locomotive. Seven is much more dramatically different than the modest makeover I expected.

Nice article on Win7 from Gizmodo...

Quoted: Like Elvis in '68, Microsoft is itching for a "comeback," and Windows 7 is the perfect excuse. In fact, this week in LA at the Professional Developers Conference, Windows 7 officially shoved Vista aside. Having suffered through the often deserved criticisms of that ill-fated OS installment, Microsoft's people are thrilled to tears to be able to talk about something (anything!) else. On Sunday, they took journalists through a lively 7-hour orientation on Win 7, then handed off a Dell XPS M1330 loaded with pre-beta Build 6801.

Quoted: Thankfully for the overworked, underappreciated developers at Redmond, it's surprisingly stable, and its look and feel already puts Vista to shame.

Some of my favorites comments...

Quoted: Looking good, probably will upgrade.
Quoted: so they finished vista, it took them long enough
Quoted: ALL of this should be in Vista SP2. Now another $300 upgrade
Quoted: Vista!!!! Clever you changing your identity, still trying to get into my pants?
Quoted: Looks like a slightly upgraded Microsoft BOB OS.microsoft Windows Walkthrough Boot Video and

Interesting comments and perspective from Brad Brooks. I like the "i" way vs. the "you" way juxtaposition. Windows "without walls" is an effective campaign against the walled garden Apple offers. Still, it's hard to compete in certain scenarios with the elegant, reliable and deterministic Apple experience.

Quoted: Ahead of what many expect to be the introduction of cheaper Macs, a top Windows exec says Apple users pay hidden costs.

Quoted: There really is a tax around there for people that are evaluating their choices going into this holiday season and going forward. There's a choice tax that we talked about, which is, hey, you want to buy a machine that's other than black, white, or silver, and if you want to get it in multiple different configurations or price points, you're going to be paying a tax if you go the Apple way.

Yep.

Quoted: Microsoft confirmed Tuesday that several services currently found within Windows XP and Windows Vista will be dropped for Windows 7, and replaced with similar versions of its Live services.

Quoted: Starting with the next release of Windows – internally known as Windows 7 - Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Contacts, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker will no longer be available in the Windows operating system," a spokesman for Microsoft said in an email on Tuesday.

Quoted: Similar functionality for email, contact, calendar, photo and movie making will be available for free from Windows Live, removing the duplication of functionality for our consumers between Windows and Windows Live," the spokesman added.

It's about freakin' time Microsoft did something to improve their situation at retail. I've written before about how depressing it is to walk in to a place like Best Buy only to see just about every PC in some embarrasing condition of disrepair. There is usually some kind of error dialog, or 'can't connect' or security warning on the screen.

Best Buy has also started baking blatant ads in to their Wallpaper, and even more recently putting strange orphan windows with movie trailers or something else that conjures images of another kind of 'trailer'... specifically the double-wide kind.

Compared to the retail experience at the Apple Store, if the Apple Store is like Nordstrom, buying a PC is like shopping in the 99¢ store.

Quoted: NEW YORK - As part of its new $300 million marketing campaign and image makeover, Microsoft Corp. plans to deploy its own customer-service representatives at retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City to help people with their PC purchases.

Quoted: These gurus will be answering questions about PCs and Microsoft products, as well as giving demos of how the company's products work together — help designed to get them thinking Microsoft.

Quoted: The move is more likely to strike up comparisons with the rival that has portrayed Microsoft as unhip and out of touch — Apple Inc., which runs "Genius Bars" in its stores to answer questions about Macs and iPods. The Genius Bar also offers technical support on already-purchased products, which the Microsoft reps will not do.

There was criticism of the Seinfeld choice before the ads even came out. Now the 1st bizarre ad has only fueled the critics.

Quoted: Faced with Windows Vista’s image problem, Microsoft has been working for more than a year to change the experience of buying and using computers that run its software.

Quoted: In the world of technology, success is linked to perceptions. Microsoft demonstrated its multi-touch technology in a Windows 7 demo at the D: All Things Digital conference this week, and the software giant may have hoped to overcome the perception that Apple owns touchscreen interfaces. Instead, some observers are wondering if Microsoft is making the same mistakes that now plague Windows Vista.