I also heard from a reader known only as "John," who says he paid a visit to the . Here's his report:

It looks like an Apple store on steroids and I already knew inside Windows 7 was going to be more like a new dress on a homely woman. The only differences I could read about online seemed to be cosmetic.

Don't go to their new stores expecting to talk to anyone who know more about Windows than you do. I had to be passed off to 4 different employees, they called it escalating, before I was able to talk to someone who could tell me if Windows 7 still used a "registry", and it does. The same old house of cards is still the basis for the "new" OS.

He says it took him more than an hour to upgrade his 3-year-old ThinkPad, and now he's decided to switch to a MacBook Pro. (Hey, maybe Apple will .)

Meanwhile, in other Windows 7 news: Microsoft has decided to . It will a 30-minute "commercial free (except for Windows 7 promos)" Fox Network Special, "Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show," scheduled to air November 8. The reason? According to , Microsoft executives who watched the taping of the show objected to some of the content -- specifically jokes about incest, deaf people, and the Holocaust.