Having been a loyal Windows customer and paying full retail price for Vista Ultimate the pricing for this product when compared to the other versions of Windows 7 is a slap in the face first of all so one star off just for that! Microsoft should've provided some discount for prior Vista Ultimate customers at least.
Charging an extra $200 or more for a couple of features that noone will use and some outdated ones like Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications is just plain tacky.
The only one that really adds any value is the new feature called "VHD Boot". With that you can boot your entire Windows out of a Virtual Hard Disk file as those used with Virtual PC or Virtual Server which can come in handy if you are a developer or like to install alot of beta products or games and want to make sure you don't screw up your main install.
Anyways, having upgraded my overpriced install of Vista Ultimate 64 bits the first thing you notice is that Microsoft actually downgrades you by removing the few Ultimate extras they did provide with Vista!
That's right Windows7 doesn't merely tell you it won't deliver another DreamScene content pack but that it's going to take away the ones you already had including Tinker, come on, Microsoft, that's just mean. After removing your Vista extras the upgrade form Vista goes smooth for the most part. I just had to reinstall drivers for my netgear wireless usb which Win7 couldn't find or provide. XP users are totally out of luck though since they will have to do a clean install and reinstall all their programs.
Other than the fact that Windows 7 forcibly removes your extras if you are already running Vista I wouldn't be in a rush to go out and grab a copy, especially not at the current price, since the improvements are little and subtle coming from Vista. If you are still running XP on the otherhand though you should've definitely upgrade asap.
I've used the bitlocker feature on a 2TB drive and it works as advertised and that's one area where the improvement compared to Vista are noticeable. For one you know longer have to create your own partition to install bitlocker since windows 7 takes care of it for you but it still takes forever to encrypt a 2TB drive, roughly several hours, but at least it's a one time deal unless you need to decrypt it to clone it or update your bios for example.
If you are trying to scrimp on hardrive space or memory Win7 does use a bit less than Vista but still more than XP, since Movie maker, mail, and several other programs that always used to come with Windows have been removed and are now a optional download. That won't make the few people that use or depend on those programs happy but for the rest I'm sure they are happier for a slimmer Windows. The other changes people upgrading from Vista will notice is the annoying sidebar is gone and the taskbar is huge and works way different than Vista so it takes some learning to figure out where Microsoft moved everything to. It took me a while to figure out where all my stuff went since Win7 tries to be helpful and hide more stuff from you like Macos x. For example your taskbar notifications are still there but hidden by default. Nothing else really impressed me since almost all the stuff in Win7 was already there in Vista. Problem Step Recorder is a nice addition for those that help others troubleshoot their computers or is a quick and dirty way to make your own tutorials. And contrary to what others are seeing Win7 is not noticeably faster than Vista for most stuff except maybe networking and hibernation does seem to work better now. Then again since it never seemed to work before now that it does work is certainly an improvement. Windows 7 is also alot more helpful in trying to troubleshoot incompatible applications and games since a little wizard pops up trying to help you but if your program/game didn't work in Vista it most likely isn't going to work in Win7 either. Oh and another thing I turned off right away was Aero snap since it kept trying to be helpful by rearranging my windows for me which I hated. Alot of others seem to love this feature though. Other little things that Microsoft finally got around to adding to Windows is native burn support for ISO so you don't have to install Nero, usually one of the first pieces of software I install, and Blu-ray burn only support. This still doesn't make up for the lack of virtual desktops support, which Linux and Mac OS X have provided for the longest time and is one of the most useful features ever devised. This is one of the biggest oversight Microsoft continues to make which each new release. Maybe if they threw in native Blu-ray playback support for the Ultimate edition it would make sense to charge more.
So that's my take from someone that used Vista since the day it was released and has been using Win7 since it was released roughly a month ago.
Oh and finally I'm not too happy that even this latest more secure version of Windows can easily be rendered non-functional just by installing an old game. Any old game that using StarForce will install a driver that will immediately cause a blue screen of death upon reboot. For example&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Namco-Museum-50th-Anniversary-Collection/dp/B000AAQZPE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Collection</a>. Microsoft should really put a hardblock on this since I was only able to recover my system due to my technical skills. So much for compatibility with older games.
Having been a loyal Windows customer and paying full retail price for Vista Ultimate the pricing for this product when compared to the other versions of Windows 7 is a slap in the face first of all so one star off just for that! Microsoft should've provided some discount for prior Vista Ultimate customers at least. Charging an extra $200 or more for a couple of features that noone will use and some outdated ones like Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications is just plain tacky. The only one that really adds any value is the new feature called "VHD Boot". With that you can boot your entire Windows out of a Virtual Hard Disk file as those used with Virtual PC or Virtual Server which can come in handy if you are a developer or like to install alot of beta products or games and want to make sure you don't screw up your main install. Anyways, having upgraded my overpriced install of Vista Ultimate 64 bits the first thing you notice is that Microsoft actually downgrades you by removing the few Ultimate extras they did provide with Vista! That's right Windows7 doesn't merely tell you it won't deliver another DreamScene content pack but that it's going to take away the ones you already had including Tinker, come on, Microsoft, that's just mean. After removing your Vista extras the upgrade form Vista goes smooth for the most part. I just had to reinstall drivers for my netgear wireless usb which Win7 couldn't find or provide. XP users are totally out of luck though since they will have to do a clean install and reinstall all their programs. Other than the fact that Windows 7 forcibly removes your extras if you are already running Vista I wouldn't be in a rush to go out and grab a copy, especially not at the current price, since the improvements are little and subtle coming from Vista. If you are still running XP on the otherhand though you should've definitely upgrade asap. I've used the bitlocker feature on a 2TB drive and it works as advertised and that's one area where the improvement compared to Vista are noticeable. For one you know longer have to create your own partition to install bitlocker since windows 7 takes care of it for you but it still takes forever to encrypt a 2TB drive, roughly several hours, but at least it's a one time deal unless you need to decrypt it to clone it or update your bios for example. If you are trying to scrimp on hardrive space or memory Win7 does use a bit less than Vista but still more than XP, since Movie maker, mail, and several other programs that always used to come with Windows have been removed and are now a optional download. That won't make the few people that use or depend on those programs happy but for the rest I'm sure they are happier for a slimmer Windows. The other changes people upgrading from Vista will notice is the annoying sidebar is gone and the taskbar is huge and works way different than Vista so it takes some learning to figure out where Microsoft moved everything to. It took me a while to figure out where all my stuff went since Win7 tries to be helpful and hide more stuff from you like Macos x. For example your taskbar notifications are still there but hidden by default. Nothing else really impressed me since almost all the stuff in Win7 was already there in Vista. Problem Step Recorder is a nice addition for those that help others troubleshoot their computers or is a quick and dirty way to make your own tutorials. And contrary to what others are seeing Win7 is not noticeably faster than Vista for most stuff except maybe networking and hibernation does seem to work better now. Then again since it never seemed to work before now that it does work is certainly an improvement. Windows 7 is also alot more helpful in trying to troubleshoot incompatible applications and games since a little wizard pops up trying to help you but if your program/game didn't work in Vista it most likely isn't going to work in Win7 either. Oh and another thing I turned off right away was Aero snap since it kept trying to be helpful by rearranging my windows for me which I hated. Alot of others seem to love this feature though. Other little things that Microsoft finally got around to adding to Windows is native burn support for ISO so you don't have to install Nero, usually one of the first pieces of software I install, and Blu-ray burn only support. This still doesn't make up for the lack of virtual desktops support, which Linux and Mac OS X have provided for the longest time and is one of the most useful features ever devised. This is one of the biggest oversight Microsoft continues to make which each new release. Maybe if they threw in native Blu-ray playback support for the Ultimate edition it would make sense to charge more. So that's my take from someone that used Vista since the day it was released and has been using Win7 since it was released roughly a month ago. Oh and finally I'm not too happy that even this latest more secure version of Windows can easily be rendered non-functional just by installing an old game. Any old game that using StarForce will install a driver that will immediately cause a blue screen of death upon reboot. For example&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Namco-Museum-50th-Anniversary-Collection/dp/B000AAQZPE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Collection</a>. Microsoft should really put a hardblock on this since I was only able to recover my system due to my technical skills. So much for compatibility with older games.