User Profiles in Drupal 7

Drupal 7 will bring about a new way of implementing user profiles with the integration of CCK in core & support for CCK fields for users. In Drupal 6, site builders rely on a core module called "Profile" or contributed module called "Content Profile" to create user profiles. The Profile module supports additional fields on user account edit, while the Content Profile creates user profiles as a new content type with CCK field integration. Drupal 7 will diminish the need for field creation in the Profile module, although Dries Buytaert (founder of Drupal), has noted the missing piece:

"We demonstrated that it is possible to attach fields to users but that doesn't necessarily give you the functionality that comes with profile module; we need to be able to attach fields to the registration form, support a number of different views, and provide an upgrade path from the old profile module to a new, Field API aware profile module. Our goal, of course, is to leverage the new Field API so we can bring the power of dozens of CCK field types to user profiles."

So there is reason to be excited about the new CCK feature for users, but as Dries noted, there is a need for additional features for registration form tie-ins, etc.