In this case, nearly all of the changes are architecturally minor, and though this looks like a very nice Windows release, it largely looks that way precisely because it is not a radical reënvisioning of Windows à la Vista. What we have here is Vista 2.0, with the sucky parts removed, the good parts (yes, there were good parts) kept, and some new, surprisingly well-thought-out, but relatively small enhancements to replace some of the poor features. I am actually pretty confident Microsoft can deliver this one. If they're smart, they'll have a similar incremental improvement scheduled as Windows 8, and get on an OS X/Linux-style rapid release schedule.

Windows 7 is the new vista. :)