Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 9.10 Boot Time shown side by side on YouTube:
Booting up Ubuntu 9.10 (33 seconds), Win7 (44 seconds)
Loading firefox in Ubuntu 9.10 (2 seconds), Win7 (12 seconds)
Shutting down Ubuntu is much faster than Win7.
(My experience in time taken to shut down Ubuntu is that: it completes shutdown before you have a chance to walk away.
MC's experience:
I first shut down 9.10 I actually thought the power had gone off 
)
... and Ubuntu
aims for 10 second boot time in the next release 10.04 (year 2010, April)
I agree Ubuntu is more responsive in these areas, but features wise... ehmmm, Ubuntu needs to pick up.