I think for me to be happy with Windows 7 is the following:1) 64Bit Windows 7 stability for hardware drivers, and software compatibility.2) Speed increase in the way the operating system behaves, such as Booting, shutting down, and overall responsiveness. IF those 2 above would be address i'd never look at XP ever again.

In order for 1) to occur, the hardware manufacturers must develop drivers that are Windows 7 compatible. They are getting better but they have the ultimate responsibilty.I feel thatWindows 7already meets 2) as long as you are not trying to run it on very old hardware.

Well for the hardware Manufacturers to improve their shoddy drivers i think Microsoft should pull the plug on 32bit OS development, and offer compatibility through virtual PC for people that need their win32 apps to function.

Current hardware (created within the last few years) already has good x64 bit driver support. So unless your using something outdated / unsupported anymore your fine with Vista or Win7 x64. As for software... well precious few are x64 native but that is ok because again unless the software is VERY old or Obscure it runs in Vista/Win7 x64 edition just fine.This has been the case for a while now.