For gaming Vista and Win 7 maybe ok but for business i will still use XP and i have XP running on AMD's, Dual Core's, Quad Core's and I7's and its still does the job very well (unless ofcourse dumb users get in the way
).
AS for it updating without telling you, and you having no choice that is incorrect, just like xp and vista i have set it up to ask me what to download and install (although if u choose to download you don't get the option to install it, it will auto install).
I am thinking of moving my Work PC's onto Linux after XP become not viable to install on new PC's (although I am a linux newb...
).
Anyway win 7 still has a long way to go and if i do decide to buy it i would probably wait for a SP1 release.