Windows 7 Vs Previous Operating Systems

Over the years, Microsoft has released a lot of new operating systems, and they usually seem to release each one with quite a few differences from the previous. However, Vista and 7 were released in quite close proximity to each other, leaving many with a few questions. Why the change from Vista?

Vista Vs Windows 7
Vista definitely had its fair share of problems. Besides the fact that it took so much hardware to run the operating system alone, there were a vast amount of bugs and compatibility problems. There are also many other technical problems with the operating system that I won't go too far into. It is under my best knowledge that the reason Windows 7 was released was to fix some of the problems that Windows Vista created. Windows 7 is supposed to be faster, perform better, and be an all around more compatible and better operating system than Windows Vista.

The Actual OS
I personally have tried Windows 7 twice now (on two different machines). At a glance, Windows 7 is amazingly different from Vista, from appearance all the way to performance. One of the very unique features of Windows 7 is the way that programs are minimized and viewed on the taskbar - They work on a category/icon basis rather than on a window basis. That is, each program only has one tab on the taskbar rather than an amount equal to the current number of windows. This could be good or bad, based on how you like to switch between tabs and how used to Xp/Vista you were.

Compatibility
Windows 7 definitely did seem to be more compatible with most of my hardware. What really surprised me was that when I wrote over Windows XP with windows 7, I wasn't even forced to go get all new drivers after the complete deletion of Windows XP and installation of Windows 7. As far as individual pieces of hardware goes, I can't be 100% but it seems that for the most part, the majority of the hardware out there will function perfectly fine with Windows 7. It appears as if most of the devices that worked with Vista will also function the exact same under the conditions of the new operating system, and I believe the same drivers even work.

Problems
I did however, face a few problems while using Windows 7, and I have even went back to XP, just because it's faster and all around more what I am used to. Windows 7 caused massive audio problems to games and media player. When I would switch between tabs, I would get this annoying digital audio cracking. It was not caused by drivers or any dumb mistake on my part - I looked up ways to fix it for days. There are many other people with the same problem (googled and looked through forums) and it seems as if a lot of people aren't able to fix it. One more problem I had was programs would just "stop working" quite frequently. Of course, if you had Vista prior, you are used to this and probably won't notice a difference. However, overall, the operating system isn't terrible, and if you're accustomed to Vista, then Windows 7 is more than definitely an overall upgrade.