Unlike when Vista was released Windows 7 has been getting good press all through the early beta and release candidate versions of the operating system. Even I have been impressed with how well Windows 7 has performed during these early stages. Now however as it goes RTM we will start seeing more solid looks at the operating system showing up on all the major blogs.

A long those lines Seth Rosenblatt has just posted an in-depth look at Windows 7 at the cnet UK blog. He opens up the post noting that Microsoft had dug itself a deep hole with Vista and that as a result expectations for Windows 7 were very high. It would seem in his opinion it has met, and maybe in some cases, exceeded those expectations.

Luckily for Microsoft, Windows 7 is more than just spin. It’s stable, smooth and highly polished, introducing new graphical features, a new taskbar that can compete handily with the Mac OS X dock, and device management and security enhancements that make it both easier to use and safer. Importantly, it won’t require the hardware upgrades that Vista demanded, partially because the hardware has caught up, and partially because Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make Windows 7 accessible to as many people as possible.

Seth concludes his post with this honest assessment of Windows 7

Windows 7 looks like the operating system that both Microsoft and its consumers have been waiting for. By fixing most of the perceived and real problems in Vista, Microsoft has laid the groundwork for the future of where Windows will go. Windows 7 presents a stable platform that can compete comfortably with OS X, while reassuring the world that Microsoft can still turn out a strong, useful operating system.

With reviews like this things look encouraging for Windows 7.