Armory works great for me on Windows 7 64-bit. I did encounter a nuisance though: If Bitcoin-QT isn't installed in the C:\Program Files\, Armory had trouble locating it. I tried to give the correct location in settings, though that didn't seem to work. I also found it difficult to remove the blockchain from my C drive as Armory keeps it's own copy there (which is a problem when working from an SSD with limited space). The solution was to open command prompt and make symbolic links for both Armory and Bitcoin, though it would have been easier if this could be done from settings.
Since Armory doesn't save any registry settings, there's not a good way to signal to it that you want to change your --datadir. If you move your --datadir, there's no way for Armory to know where it is when you start it. The only way to do it is really to modify the shortcut as you did. Technically, all other options could be put in a armory.conf file in the Armory --datadir, but haven't gotten to that yet. Similarly, I could just write a registry setting for Windows. Meh.