S H O Y K I N G
Fortette Askasa
S H O Y K I N G
Ei-Kichi St Alth
Been using a legal copy of Windows 7 for a couple months now. Roommate got me a key off his company's MSDN when my Vista died. It's a major improvement over Vista.

Would you recommend it over XP?

Windows 7 Professional has an XP Mode. If you get Home Premium you can buy the XP mode separately later I guess? Just saying.

You don't need Windows 7 to run a virtual OS on your computer. Hell, you can do it on XP, you just need a processor that can support it.
It lets me use my old Xbox action replay without needing to open up VMware and start up a virtual machine and then transfer USB control over to it and then load the files and all the hellish s**t I had to do in vista. Everything from the virtual XP machine can be intergrated straight into the Windows 7 desktop and start menu. No more having to force unsigned drivers to get older stuff to work. Right now I'm working on getting a wireless adapter that only works with XP or earlier to be used in windows 7. (Searching for the old driver and stuff for it is kind of hell and the only problem I've been having.)