"In every way"??? Not even close. Over all I think 7 is a bit better. But there are some horrible problems. Libraries are evil, useless, and immortal. Explorer is a mess. Just show me the full file path always !@#$%^!!! I've disabled all I can, animation, security, other "we know what's best for you" crap.
I do like having 64 bit that works, and has drivers.
I agree that Explorer is a bit different - but it works. If you dig around you can turn on most of the the file info. I agree that it was a pain to do this but that is life. In fact, I find that MS treats all users like they're ignorant idiots about computers, but...that's really true more than it's not. People's lack of knowledge about computers is often appalling. I also agree that turning off the nanny stuff is necessary for anyone who knows anything about computers. But Win7 is a really good OSregardless, and much better than XP in terms of functionality.
It took me a while to figure it out, but the Libraries actually have a very important function for most users...so I totally disagree with that comment. If you use the default file locations and put stuff in the Libraries, the files are much easier to find, AND they are much easier to back up. I have had a number of occasions to rescue files from my family's hard drives, and keeping documents, pix and music in the Library drives means that backing up their User folder saves them from disaster.
I used to scatter folders around at the base C: level, but that resulted in backup nightmares. Using the Libraries makes it much safer for the average user to backup and retrieve files...and it makes it easier for me to locate them, too.
In fact, this evening over the phone I walked my youngest daughter (two states away) through a full system recovery on a Win7 machine, and the fact that her user files were in the Libraries saved us a ton of time and sweat finding them and backing them up. (She had another backup, but it wasn't quite up to date.) That's about the third time in four years I have had to either do a system recovery or move files to a new Win7 computer, and the Libraries made it much easier to avoid losing critical content.
ALL this stuff notwithstanding, Win7 has consistently been more stable, more dependable, smarter about handing drivers and connections, and provides more troubleshooting and handholding at times when you need it. I can let a Win7 computer run for weeks without rebooting, which wasn't often the case for an XP box that was used regularly.
For a user like the OP's mom, I HIGHLY recommend Win7 over XP, as it's a much more friendly system for basic users.
