[Off-topic] N8ter:
Linux is a dead end on the Desktop.

For gaming it's out, and if you rely on interoperability with Windows users in an office setting it's pretty much out. Use Exchange? It's out. Do Audio or Video editing? It's pretty much out due to the bad/fragmented sound architecture and poor performance of the Open Source graphics drivers (some people may be able to use proprietary drivers).

KDE is still trying to look like Windows Vista. Apparently Unaware that Windows 7 released a year ago. GNOME still looks like a depressed, yet less snazzy, version of OS/2 Workplace Shell.

There are so many issues with Linux on the desktop. If you want a UNIX desktop, get a Mac. Those actually work quite well :P

Only an [actually, I don't know a good word to put here. I shall consult a thesaurus one of these days] would say the Windows XP Start Menu is better than Vista, much less Windows 7 Start Menu. Aero Peek and Snap are only small Usability Enhancements when it comes to Windows 7. It's much more than that.

Both Vista and 7 can use a Classic Menu, but the Classic Menu has always been kinda terrible becase it doesn't automatically sort itself and can either run off the screen or take up 1/3rd of you screen. It's a colossal waste of screen real-estate navigate it, and finding applications is cumbersom compared to latter Windows Versions, where you can press the Windows Key and just start typing. In Windows XP you have to install Windows Search and use the Taskbar Toolbar.

Also, XP and Vista's Taskbar is pretty much a waste of screen real estate when you compare the functionality to that in Windows 7. Pinned Websites on the Windows 7 Taskbar are a bit of a revelation (an IE9 feature). Jump Lists? The way Jump Lists are integrated into the Start Menu allowing you to get at recently opened documents/internet history without loading the application and looking through a menu/dialog first?

If Aero Peek/Snap are the types of "nice features" that come to mind when you think of Windows 7, then I don't know what to say...

That's because typing the name is supposed to be faster than clicking on it unless you type 2 characters per minute.

You don't need to type the whole application (or file) name. You type part of it and it searches the index as you enter characters. That's a huge improvement in usability in Vista/7 and Microsoft Backported Windows Search to Windows XP for that very reason. The only difference is that it's in a Taskbar Toolbar instead of the Start Menu, which makes it less productive than Vista/7's Integrated Windows search.

KDE on Linux took a similar Approach to Vista (as they always do for good Windows features, Lol) and integrated Search into the K menu. On OpenSUSE Novell integrated Desktop Search into the GNOME Slab menu.

There are always some people who like to work like they did a decade ago, but usability has gone forward in Windows, not backwards. Navigating a Classic Start Menu for applications is an unacceptable use case these days. That's why so many Linux users complained about KDE/GNOME's cluttered menus, prompting them to clean them up and integrate Desktop Search...

I don't want to have to arrange applications in a menu. The OS should put applications over folders and arrange them alphabetically. The Classic Menu Structure never did this. That is why it was a PITA. Users should not have to manage their Application Menu. That's not acceptable, these days.

Huh?

Right Click on your network icon in the System tray -> "Open Network and Sharing Center" -> Click "Local Area Connection" -> Click "Properties"

That takes 5 seconds or less to do, depending on where the mouse is on the screen.

The problem obviously isn't Windows, here.

This has to be done because if you press shutdown and an application has dirty data that you don't want to lose, you have a chance to cancel the shutdown and save that data to disk. This happens in Windows XP as well, the .NET broadcaster (or whatever it's called) always hangs on a Shutdown. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that sees it cause I just reinstalled XP on my Dell and it happens in a completely fresh install.

The issue isn't Windows 7. It's the application. This is like complaining that Microsoft Outlook stopped to ask you if you REALLY want to empty you Deleted Items folder when you Exit it. It's a failsafe just in case you forgot about something, or want to double check yourself.

In any case, bad apps are bad. If the App is doing it, then report to the developer so they can see why and hopefully issue a patch.

All users was renamed in Windows Vista. Where have you been the past 4-5 years. Instead of All Users, it's Public. That more accurately gives the purpose of that folder. All Users is the Public folder on Windows XP. Do you want to complain that they Documents and Settings to Users, as well? My Documents to Documents? My Music to Music? See where I'm going here?

Windows Vista didn't have any bloat. It had redundant Applications.

Things like Windows Mail, Photo Gallery, Calendar, Contacts, Movie Maker, etc. simply weren't needed and it got too bad when you had applications like Outlook and Live Essentials installed. You couldn't uninstall them.

Windows XP has similar redundant applications. Outlook Express, Windows Messenger, MSN Explorer, Windows Movie Maker, etc.

It's not that the applications add bloat. If you look at Internet Explorer it's very small. They don't actually take up all that much space because they use System Libraries/Components and wrap them in many cases (Outlook Express is like < 10 MB on Windows XP, for example). It's that they were unneeded redundancies and made the OS harder to harden. Security Exploits can be found in those applications. Decoupling as much of them from the Windows OS actually makes the OS more secure, and yes, it does decrease it's percieved weight.

Windows 7 outperforms Windows Vista simply because the OS is better. The performance difference isn't really all that dramatic compared to Vista with the latest Service Packs, but the usability enhancements augment it. You can get a lot of things done much quicker on Windows 7 than on Vista or XP.

On top of that, I'm sure Microsoft's developer tools matured and produce somewhat better code.

If you are running a 64-Bit machine, it's almost not even worth it to run XP over Vista or 7, IMHO.

If you are a gamer, XP is practically dead due to it not having DX10.x/11.

XP is a magnitude less secure than Vista or 7. It doesn't even have Mandatory Integrity Control, which is IMO a showstopper to consider it considering the amount of malware writters and hackers that target Windows (due to it's marketshare) and attack it through [for example] the browser.

The Taskbar in Windows 7 is a big deal, when you actually start to use it, pin Web Site, and Pin Applications that support it's features (or just run those applications, to be honest). Jump lists save tons of screen real estate when running Applications like Windows Live Messenger, and if you Pin Winows Live to the Task Bar (again, via IE9) you can Create a Mail, go to Calendar or Contacts, etc. without first opening a browser and going to the page through the Jump List. If you pin the Windows Team Blog it has every section in the Jump List and you can go to, e.g. the Windows Live Blog without having to go through the website (of course, you can also just use an RSS reader for something like that, but that's just an example). Media player controls are in the Jump List (as well as Zune Player). etc. etc.

The problem with the Windows Task Bar isn't the color. It's the fact that it's borderline useless. You could change the taskbar color in Vista too. That didn't make it anything but "as useful as the XP task bar."