I liked #1, a lot... Gave some users something to look forward to (for VIP forums, Paid Forums, etc).
Style has changed a lot, but thanks to the private beta group's sugguestions there is an easy to use editor in 7.
Upgrade varies, on my forum at no load it took 6 hours; when it was b0ged and laggy it took 2 days (though this was an extreme case for us, server issues). It all honestly varies.