I recently went and upgraded the WordPress I use to 2.7 even though it still isn’t completely out of testing. The main reason why I decided to make the move is because I’m sick of updating WordPress and finally in 2.7 they are allowing for automatic updating which thus far having already used it once, it is a complete dream! You can also automatically install plugins which makes that process a little easier as well. The only thing you can’t update automatically is the themes which is a shame. I realize that I’ve basically edited my theme myself, but it is based off K2 and it’d be nice if I could get those updates when they happen.
The main difference between 2.6x and 2.7 is really on the backside. As an everyday viewer of blogs, you may never notice any difference, but on my end the difference is huge, although it really is mostly a user interface difference.
I think the main thing that really changed is that they really AJAXified the backend. I can open and close menus on the fly and move various segments around on the screen to be where I want them to be and it will remember how I had things set up before. In addition, everything is really just layed out much better in the first place and easier to get to everything with little to no scrolling.
There are a lot of other little things in the interface. Such as the ability to choose from most populare tags or most used categories when you are chosing those for any particular post. Not huge, most of the time I can just enter them fine, but still kind of handy. The toolbar has moved from the top to the left side, and can be minimized to be only icons with hovering menus on each. This actually really makes it nicer as it gives it the feel of more screen space and is still somehow easier to use.
The main theme of 2.7 is ease of use and it certainly succeeds. I think this version is much much easier than any previous version as previously and that ease of use means that I can get to where I want faster and do what I want to get done faster. I don’t think they improved the actual speed of the system much, if any. But the interface is much more user friendly.