It’s true; I’m moving my graphics machine to Windows 7 Ultimate this weekend. It’s been Vista 64 Ultimate for about 6 months now so I’m installing a new hard drive for the new OS. I don’t want to do an in place upgrade on this machine. I’ve done an in place upgrade elsewhere and it works well, but takes a long time to complete and doesn’t clear out all the sludge in the user profile, registry and other settings.
Last night I installed the new hard drive and started the install. It copied files and expanded in about 10 minutes, then restarted. The restart didn’t see the new hard drive because the CMOS changed to another drive I have in the system. Because of that error, I was set back an hour. It booted back to the installation DVD and started the install again. I didn’t know any better, so I went along. Long story short, I wound up having to take the new drive out, install it in another machine and delete the partitions I had created and then reformat it.
I put it back in my graphics machine and started the install again, with the CMOS boot drive error corrected. It installed in about 30 minutes, another 10 or 15 to get updates and join our domain. Very smooth!
I took the new Windows 7 drive out, hooked up my old drive and put my Vista production machine back in use. I get back to the upgrade later; I have a hundred apps yet to install and tons of settings to manually re-configure before going live.
I hope to be done by Monday October 12th. 
David
Windows 7 Q&A:
1. My client wants to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7; can I do that?
Yes! Microsoft has integrated a XP > 7 migration tool right on the installation disc.
Details and procedures here: Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7
2. Will my client’s computer run Windows 7?
The short answer is “Yes”. Microsoft has an Upgrade Advisor tool available.
Click here: Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor or http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements
3. What about my client’s applications? Will they run in Windows 7?
Microsoft has developed a Windows 7 Application Compatibility Toolkit
4. I have a client with an incompatible software program, but they want the security and ease of use with Windows 7. What can I do?
You have a solid option. With the introduction of Windows 7 – Microsoft offers “WindowsXP Mode”. This feature utilizes Microsoft VirtualPC (With compliant hardware) to create a virtual machine running WindowsXP Pro.
The details are here: Microsoft WindowsXP Mode Minisite
5. What about downgrades? Can we still downgrade Windows 7 Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate?
Yes! “For a limited time of 18 months after the general availability of Windows 7 or the release of a Windows 7 Service Pack, whichever is earlier, the OEM license of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate will include downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional. After that period the OEM license will enable downgrade rights to Windows Vista Business.”