As a Microsoft Partner we had the opportunity to get our hands on Windows 7 Beta. Here are a couple of highlights from my user experience. Before going on please understand I was just "playing" with Windows 7 not really making any attempt to find bugs or break the system. I really just wanted to see how it looked and felt.
Taskbar/Quick Launch merging
Currently, even in Windows Vista your quick launch and taskbars are seperate areas of you windows system bar (usually at the bottom of the screen). With Windows 7 they have actually merged these items, so now when you click on the IE button you will not see new IE task blocks appear on your taskbar. My dislike of this is that all tasks are now represented by an image rather than image and text, so if you have application developer who use the same application icons, good luck determining what is what.
IE Tab Taskbar integration
After launching IE, opening a few tabs then minimizing the window when you go to restore the task by clicking on the IE icon in the task bar you can select the tab you would like displayed when restored.
Boot Up
Windows 7 appears to have a quicker boot and load time than Windows XP and Vista. The graphics are astetically pleasing, but you won't be looking at them for long.
Resources
My Windows 7 Beta is running in a VMWare VM which I configured as a Windows Vista VM. Windows 7 had no issues with the configuration including the fact that it only have 1GB RAM and a single processor (host is Centrino Duo).
Versions/Flavors
My only concern with Windows 7 is the proliferation of Windows 7 "flavors" we may see. My hope is that Microsoft will trim back to a 2 or 3 version OS (Home, Professional, Server). If they continue a seperate server line I wouldn't mind seeing a 3rd version with super UI capabilites aimed at High End computer hardware and computer gamer types.
I would really hate to see something like this:
Windows 7 Basic
Windows 7 Ok
Windows 7 Almost Complete
Windows 7 Home
Windows 7 Business without Active Directory
Windows 7 Business with Active Directory
Windows 7 Now its getting good
Windows 7 Good
Windows 7 Great
Windows 7 Ultimate
Windows 7 Best thing since sliced bread
Windows 7 You've never seen anything better
Windows 7 Super Duper Top Of The Line