I’m just about finished backing everything up off of my main machine (Windows 7 32-bit Ultimate). I’ve heard alot of good things about Windows 7 (read quite a bit too) - and even decent things about the install process. What’s tying me to Windows is Fallout 3 and the random Windows-only game…sorry Ubuntu, I love ya' but we just can’t go steady yet.

I’ll update this post as I install and use this new OS. It feels like getting a new computer!

• Update 2:41pm - I started the install at 2:20 and am typing this from the same machine with Windows 7 now. Checking the device manager, I’ve got only 1 device (my ATI TV tuner…don’t buy one of these) not recognized. Next up - Video drivers, TV Tuner drivers, and some apps.
• Update 3:16pm - It looks like my ATI TV tuner doesn’t have a listed driver available for Windows 7. Some searching revealed that some had success with using the Vista 64 bit driver from the ATI downloads page. I installed this driver, but the device manager still showed the unknown device. Choosing to “Update driver”, I pointed the wizard to the location that the ATI installer had unpacked all the files to (C:\ATI). Windows picked up the driver and it’s now listed as “ATI Unified AVStream Driver”. I’m still configuring Windows Media Center, so I’m not sure if this will all work out - but the driver installed fine.
• Update 3:50pm - TV Tuner works fine. Getting signal out here in the stix is another matter :)
• Update 5:47pm - Got some of my apps installed. Restored Fallout 3 from the backup I created back into Steam - only to have to do the Games for Windows Live dance (don’t update through the game, go get the standalone client). Oh - and doing a steam backup of the game doesn’t capture any downloadable content you’ve acquired through GFWL. Bummer… at my current internet speed rate - I should be able to play Fallout 3 sometime next week.

Overall at this point I’m liking Windows 7. The real test comes tonight when I reshare my printer to another Windows XP box in the house. Vista was terrible with this…I had to restart the print spooler and open the printers window every time that machine needed to print. Here’s hoping it’s gotten better in 7.

Update 10/25/2009 - It’s been a good while since I installed and I haven’t longed for XP or Vista at all. Printer sharing worked fantastic! No more restarting the print spooler. Fallout 3 finished installing and it ran the hardware check to auto-set my video settings. It auto-set higher settings than my Vista install did - now I can see NPCs faces :) Good times.