ZDNet Blogs have a promising first look at the recently released Windows 7 beta 1 (build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400)

This beta is of excellent quality. This is the kind of code that you could roll out and live with. Even the pre-betas were solid, but finally this beta feels like it’s “done.” This beta exceeds the quality of any other Microsoft OS beta that I’ve handled.