Windows 7: Convince me to try/use Windows 7

I know Windows 7 is still beta, and that might affect some of the criteria I'm about to list, but here goes:

I am a Windows XP user who (obviously) skipped Vista. I've been hearing only good things about Windows 7, but I'm still a bit leery. I figure that these forums are full of knowledgeable people, so I'm looking for some real reasons (preferably quantifiable unless related to subjective matters such as user interface) for why I should switch to Windows 7, either now or when it is released.

I'll give a little background on my rig and what I use my computer for:

e5200 @ 3.8ghz, 4GB ram, 8800gt

Running Windows XP SP3, nLited and very tweaked (registry tweaks, services disabled, extra stuff like windows media player removed). I restart my computer every month or so, but it's usually on 24/7.

It is running no antivirus, and windows firewall is disabled. I have a pfSense hardware firewall filtering all inbound/outbound connections, so I haven't been hit by a virus in a VERY long time.

I use the computer mostly for web browsing, gaming, and academic-type work. Web browsing is with firefox, gaming involves games as old as the original starcraft all the way up to Left 4 Dead, and work involves microsoft office, matlab, mathematica, photoshop, and various IDEs (visual studio, wing, eclipse, etc). I also listen to music off a networked drive (slackware w/ unRAID running a Samba server) using winamp. I have 2 monitors so I usually am running several different programs at once.



I've also, of course, tweaked the UI with the uxtheme.dll mod and emulated a OSX-esque desktop with RocketDock, etc.

Can anyone give me any serious reasons to move to Windows 7?

EDIT: If you need any more info, I'd be glad to provide it.

Personal choice, make your own decision.

Nope. Stay with XP. You can do just about anything with XP and all the hacking you've done to it that you can with 7. You've replaced the browser, media player, etc and probably removed most everything else with nLite. You don't use the firewall, killed most services. If you've got the right driver setup to run multi-monitor they way you want 7 won't help there. You've replaced the UI with Apple, don't use touch, probably wouldn't use any of the newer built-in apps anyway since I'm sure you'd find something open source or third party you'd like better.

I'd tell you to upgrade just for updates since those won't last forever with XP entering limited support but I'm not sure that would even have much value for you. I'm reasonably sure you'd hate libraries, not care about solution center, etc.

I dunno, you tell me, why are you interested in 7? It is fast, but not that much faster than XP on your hardware probably, it does use fewer resources than Vista but not XP, and hardware manufacturers are likely to keep pumping out XP drivers for some time.

Maybe just wait until running XP becomes onerous for some reason then upgrade.

slick, beautiful and it WORKS !!!

if you use the computer for gaming stay with XP, if you need a hometheater, play with the new windows7.

Laptop i say go with windows 7 as well for its lower overheads and device compat

Sounds like he's slicked XP out the way he wants it, made it look pretty to him and works well enough for what he uses it for so I'm not sure that's going to be too convincing.

didnt someone say there is the new DX10 ?? interface all done for you so you dont need hacks.

does it come with IIS7?

You could try a friends PC with Windows 7 first.

The other reason would be to ask any of the MVP's on this forum about the advantages of Win 7.

I myself have been running it from build 7000 to 7077.
I started using PC's before windows, and have used nearly every version of Windows.
This is the best OS Microsoft has ever produced and I use it as my only OS on my own PC. My PC is used for business also.

i would say give windows 7 a try.... its far better than XP as far as i think... i was also a XP user... and skipped Vista... When i installed windows 7... i must say.. i never had seen such an awesom OS...

if you dont want to loose your XP settings.. you do a dual install.. keeping XP and Windows 7 aswell...

It's up to you.

BlackOut...there is no "serious" reason for you to move to Windows 7...your stated requirements seem to demand something way beyond a BETA release.

Despite Win 7 having achieved a remarkably stable and robust stage, it is still a beta. No one should expect anything other than pain and surprises when they endeavor to install an operating system which is still under active development. There are many excellent reasons why the final release of Seven is scheduled months into the future...there is still much to do to provide a stable environment for literally millions of hardware permutations.

Unless you are ready to join the adventurous and masochistic gang that hangs in this forum (and really enjoys installing and reinstalling your entire computer environment), you're better off just sitting on the sidelines for now.