Our new advertising campaign rolled out last week. And I'm not just saying this as an employee or a fan boy, but I really like the extension of the "I'm a PC" campaign. You see, with Windows 7 we worked with customers, partners, and software vendors through the development, Beta, and RC phases of development, incorporating feedback and fine-tuning the OS. This is an OS built for you. It's fast and responsive, it has sleek lines, and it's ergonomic and easy to use. It's kind of like a sports car.

This ad captures the spirit of what I'm saying better than I could ever do:

This ad highlights feedback from customers and consumers from several walks of life – and some Microsoft engineers committing to implement the requests. And implement them they did. It's a great OS, better than Vista _and_ XP. Windows 7 is faster than both, most applications just work, and it's more secure. There are something like one billion PC users out there, and, as the ad says, 1 billion = 7. Your feedback crafted this finely tuned performance vehicle.

You don't believe me? Well...

On A More Personal Note... Three Windows 7 Testimonials
Story #1 – I recently got a new printer. It's a fancy Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJet CM2320fxi MFP. When I set it up I had my primary system running Windows 7 RC and another system running Windows Vista. The HP software required administrator rights. Easy with Windows 7: right-click the install executable and select run as Administrator. The install ran through perfectly and the printer just worked – duplex printing, remote scan over a wireless network, and remote fax. All-in-all a great experience. Although I got most of it (but not remote scan) working on the Vista system (now replaced by Windows 7; see story #3 below), it took a few more hoops: compatibility mode, administrator mode, and a few other tweaks. It worked, but it was more of a hassle. Windows 7? Just worked.

Story #2 – At work, I upgraded to the RTM bits only a few weeks ago, in September after finishing up our internal employee review cycle. I didn't want to disrupt my productivity so I held off. As it turns out, I didn't need to wait. I used Remote Installation Services (RIS; a component of Windows Server 2003+ that allows IT administrators to create install images). Our IT Windows 7 64bit image laid down Windows 7, Windows Live, Office 2007, and several corporate tools in about an hour. In another hour I had all my utilities installed *and* configured. Another hour after that I downloaded and installed a couple of other, not as essential applications. In literally three hours – though I was actually done in two – installation via RIS (with the help of Live Mesh) I was up and running again. Not to dog on Vista (which it kind of sounds like I'm doing), but the last time I did that with Vista it took the better part of a full day.

Story #3 – Back at home – just last night, in fact – I upgraded my wife's and kid's computers to the final bits, Windows 7 Ultimate purchased from the company store and delivered via UPS yesterday. Using the 64bit disc, I went from FDISK on the primary partition to running on both systems (both flavors of the Dell Inspiron laptop) in less than a half an hour. Every single hardware device was found and configured during install. Both came in with a 3.4 Windows Experience Rating, a slight increase over the RC (up from 3.2 and 3.3 between the pair) and a nice increase from Windows Vista (both around 3.0 out-of-the-box). In all transparency I did the installs in parallel, but still – two systems up and running in ~30 minutes is impressive. My third copy of Windows 7 Ultimate arrived today, and I'll be upgrading my XPS desktop. I expect another speedy install.

What Are You Waiting For?
If you haven't taken a look at Windows 7, you should. I'm a PC. You should be one, too. After all... It was built for you.