And the Number One Reason to Upgrade to Windows 7 is...

With Windows 7 barreling toward an October 22 worldwide launch, pundits, reviewers, and others are weighing in with their opinions, all of which, tellingly, are quite positive. One interesting recent trend is proclaiming why it is that Windows 7 is so great. And in keeping with the simplicity mantra in Windows 7, some are actually trying to push the notion that there is just one reason why you want to upgrade to Windows 7.

For example, Brier Dudley over at The Seattle Times says that that reason is quality.

Window expert Ed Bott, meanwhile, argues that drivers is the reason.

They're both right. And that's the thing with Windows 7. There is no single reason why Windows 7 is awesome, just like there's no single huge feature that will draw in users. Instead, Microsoft has engineered hundreds, perhaps thousands, of meaningful changes and updates into Windows 7. Many are big deals, most are not. But in one of those "seeing the forest for the trees" moments, the sum of all these improvements far outweighs any single change. Windows 7 is a perfect storm of improvements and timing. It is the right product for the right time.

More important, perhaps, Windows 7 is, quite obviously, the most well-conceived version of Windows ever created. I carefully worded that phrase because one might expect that any given version of Windows is "the best version of Windows" ever created. That's absolutely been true of every single previous Windows version, at the time. (Yes, even Windows Me. Really.) But what makes Windows 7 so special isn't any one improvement. It's not that it erases the perceptions (right and wrong) about Vista. It's not just that's it's shipping when it's shipping. It's a combination of things.

I'll elaborate on this in the conclusion to my Windows 7 review later this week. But the long story short is that Windows 7 is the real deal. And as a long-time Windows watcher, it's nice to finally see Microsoft firing on all cylinders in a way they haven't since Windows 95. This is a company full of very smart people that often makes some incredibly bone-headed mistakes. That's not happening with Windows 7. Not at all.

Windows 7 is the perfect storm.