So, today is the day that the Windows 7 was released to the public.  If you haven’t already, I highly recommend giving it a shot!

I recently signed up for the Windows 7 Beta Exam, 71-680, which pretty much forced my hand to install Windows 7.  In fact, I went as far as to completely abandon my normal day to day machine, and make Windows 7 my primary workstation.

So far, I’m liking what I’m seeing!  I was able to download the MSDN version on April 30th, so I’ve only had a few days to evaluate the product.  But the buzz phrase everyone seems to be using is “Vista Done Right”, and I tend to agree.  I have to warn you, the task bar will come as a major shock.  And when I was building a Windows 2008 R2 Server lab, one of the first things I did was get rid of the new taskbar, and make it work like older version of Windows.  However, since I’m going to be taking the Windows 7 exam, I’m really approaching Windows 7 as a full blown end user, and enabling and evaluating all of the features with an open mind, but also with the goal of being exam ready.

The OS feels very snappy and polished, and like I mentioned above, the new taskbar is really growing on me.  Expect a video demonstration as soon as I can get around to it.  (Disclaimer:  I’m in the process of completely re-landscaping my house, building a new storage server, re-purposing my old machine as a Hyper-V box, studying for the beta exam, and the CCNA exam, plus I have to get my network completely up and running before Verizon shows up this Saturday to install FIOS)

Here is the design of the new network for the house, which will use several Cisco Switches and routers. And this is just functional portion of the network. I'll be adding a router with a serial WAN link to another router will act as my "lab" portion of the network. :)

CCNA, Cisco, Hyper-V, MSDN, Video, Windows 7