[SOLVED] What advantages does 7 offer over XP ?

Well I hope most of his games 3D and 2D will run in native 7, with compatibility settings if neccessary. The more software that runs native the better. I see XP mode as more of a patch than the best solution. I personally have had success in XP mode running the MS internet hearts and the original MS intenet spades. And if he has any old 16bit games those could only run in XP mode under a 64-bit OS - games like ski.exe etc. But thank you for bringing that up DallasDad because the better informed the reader, the more realistic their upgrade expectations.

Thank you everyone for your input. I appreciate Core for pointing out a list of benefits. I will admit the Aero "eye candy" features are nice and it is good to see Microsoft actually incorporate some of the favorite powertoys and tweaks from XP.

I will say, for anyone considering Windows 7, who read Core's post above, that he is saying Win 7 is more secure out-of-the-box but please note you STILL NEED ANTIVIRUS PROTECTION. When you install Win 7, Microsoft informs you that no antivirus software is installed and shows you a website listing numerous software solutions including their free Web Essentials.

BTW, discussion about hardware is fine, after all my biggest issue to date is hardware. AERO was actually what I suggested be kept to a minimum because it's largely a matter of choice and in this regards Microsoft did still leave you options to "switch to the legacy looks-like-crap mode".

As Core has mentioned the three biggest complaints about 7. Maybe they are the biggest complaints because that is where Microsoft dropped the ball
1) The new GUI ... it's not like this menu box is really NEW, we have just always had a choice in 98, XP, Vista (probably NT and ME as well) to use the cascading menus or the boxed menus. Suddenly Microsoft decries "choice is bad, we have decided for you, no more thinking outside the box".
2) Drivers for old hardware: I never said Microsoft should provide drivers to support abandoned hardware, apparently I'm lucky ANYTHING works on my trackball since Logitech has abandoned it. My issue is that they provided an upgrade advisor and a Windows 7 Compatibility Center. What good is the advice if it fails to recognize that hardware is no longer supported and may not function as it did in XP (or Vista). If the person upgrading fails to utilize these tools then that is on them but if Microsoft provides an advisor that gives wrong/misleading/missing information indicating that all is clear when in fact it is not, then they failed.
3) If this was commercially available software and upgrade advisor failed to catch this old software as incompatible then again MS failed ... But hey, try it in VirtualXP it might work! I have not started reinstalling my old games except the internet hearts and spades so I may hit some software snags but to date ... nada.

... fade to BSOD :-) ...

I think once you start using the Win 7 and configuring things to the way you like it you'll realize how much improvement there really is over XP.

You keep looking for all the "negative" things that you don't like. Give it some time!

When XP first came it's driver support was crappy too! You didn't forget that now did you?

XP had lots of bugs in it also, it wasn't until SP1 came out about 10 months later that really improved it.

It's not MS job to verify that EVERY software application available is 100% compatible with the new OS. However, this time most vendors were on the ball and releasing new updated applications PRIOR to the retail release of Windows 7 in late October of 2009. I believe that is due to the early availability of the BETAs.

Microsoft learned some very heartening lessons from the Vista debacle and, in my opinion, done an excellent job of how they have handled the Windows 7 program release.

BTW, have you tried installing the Logitech SetPoint driver as a Vista compatible mode? I'm sure you know how to do that, correct? Try it and see what results you get.

Concerning the Logitech Trackball.
This may work.
Uninstall all drivers for the Trackball that
you installed.
Shut down the unit and plug in the Trackball.
Restart and hope.
I have several Logitech MX500 (8 button) optical mice.
Logitech does not support this model.
Windows Vista and 7 HomePremium x64 and Windows7 beta x86 found a way to use this item.
On the x64 systems the mouse is seen as two Microsoft 3 button mice and all 8 buttons function. On the Windows7 beta x86 the mouse functions (8 buttons) and is listed as a Logitech optical mouse.
Do notknow if this will work, give it a try.

Nibiru, I went ahead and tried it but was unsuccessful, I believe when Logitech switched to the setpoint software is when they dropped support of this particular model, but since I skipped over Vista I bought myself an extra 3 years of full functionality. What I really need is to try the Mouseware 9.0 drivers (Logitech's pre-setpoint drivers) but these weren't 64-bit so can it mess up my system to try?

Beamish, it is the win 7 drivers that allow the movement, left, right, and scroll wheel to work as they are now - everything but center-click, but thank you for your idea.

Update:
In the thread add select all right click context menu LeHaM pointed me to DblClick24 which, along with the native win7 mouse drivers gave my old trackball the full functionality I was used to. It does not allow you to assign a function to the center mouse like the old Logitech software would but since my assigned function WAS a double-click it does exactly what I need.

So I am now content with W7 and getting used to it. In fact, I find the libraries feature quite nice once I moved my data to make it conform; now using library "pointers" at the top of Windows Explorer is what I do 99% of the time. Still not perfect; I do notice that the windows explorer refresh button does not actually refresh "libraries" so when a folder is moved etc I am forced to close Explorer and reopen it to get the proper view.

But W7 is quite different and I stand by my recommendation not to upgrade XP unless you buy a new machine that comes with it or if you feel you absolutely have to to be consistent with your work etc, but realize there are going to be growing/learning pains. I don't believe Vista users will see as drastic a change as Vista is much closer to W7. In the end you will need to do what you feel is best for you, be logical rather than just buy in to the hype.