The long wait is almost over. Microsoft releases Windows 7 on Thursday.

"Overall it's snappier," says Ed Baig, personal technology reporter for USA Today.

He has been using Windows 7 for several months now. He says Microsoft took Vista and fixed a lot of its flaws.

"Even in beta, it's pretty robust and pretty reliable," he said.

Consumer Reports also calls Windows 7 "a better operating system," but technology editor Jeff Fox points out it's "not a drastic change" from Vista.

"They've just gotten rid of the things that irritated people and made some tweaks and improvements," Fox said.

At Kiplinger's Personal Finance, contributing writer Jeff Bertolucci says the improved speed is noticeable, but not a huge selling point. Even so, he calls 7 "a good upgrade."

"It will load faster and it will close faster and also it may run programs a little faster," he said.

One thing everyone agrees on -- Windows 7 is a lot less annoying than Vista, which was always asking, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Robert Strohmeyer, senior editor of PC World, says the new Windows can be a lot quieter.

"You can set it only to alert you when a program is being installed or only to alert you when you're changing a critical setting or not to bug you at all if you just want to be able to work with your PC without interruptions," he said.

If you're running Vista, it's fairly easy to upgrade to Windows 7. With XP, that's another story. Even if your machine can handle the new system, you have to do what's called a clean install. USA Today's Ed Baig says that's a real pain.

"You actually have to wipe out the contents of your hard drive, files, programs, setting, etc., and after you install Windows 7 reinstall everything," said Baig.

For more information:

After Vista, Windows 7 is a giant leap for Microsoft

Windows 7? Don't Upgrade, Buy A New PC

Should You Upgrade to Windows 7?

Windows PC Page @ PCWorld