My experience of windows 7 is really positive.
I've been running it since the beta release came out and have had no issues with drivers, programs or anything else that you might expect running a beta OS.
I've found it to be more stable, less resource hungry and easier to use. Who ever said it's what vista should have been was spot on, but its more than just a slightly updated version of the OS like 98se was.
I have it running on an old P4 3ghz with 2 gig of ram, it never crashes, hangs or freezes and recovers its resources well if I max it out.
I also have it installed on an old laptop again its got 2 gig of ram buts its as stable as a mountain goat.
Without going into all the detail why not just get hold of the beta release and try it for yourself, whats the worse that can happen!
You can still download a copy of 7 until tomorrow (20th August), to test:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/eval.../dd353271.aspx
Mike