gdgt

I've used Windows 7 ever since its first public beta release and its been a solid experience ever since. In fact I think even in beta it war far superior to previous releases.
The long over due UI updates bring the OS up to date and are more then just eyecandy - working with many windows is now a much more pleasing experience.
Underneath you get all the features you got from Vista, but with more stability.
Another good thing is this OS' ability to run on less powerful machines, like netbooks. I've run it daily on a 1.6Ghz core 2 duo with only 1GB of RAM and the os is quite snappy. I've also installed it one many old notebooks such as the Lenovo T43 and found it perfectly usable.
All things said and done, if you're still clinging on to XP, then please step into the 21st century already. If you're a Mac/Linux user, I'd reccommend you give this OS a shot, you'll be pleasently surprised.