Windows 7 to Come in Six Delicious Flavors

**drone** · 02-05-2009, 23:19

They had 98-to-XP upgrade packs for years, I thought. I haven't really seen too much demand for XP-to-Vista upgrades, since who in their right mind would trash a perfectly good XP licence (downgrades, on the other hand...). I've never actually used upgrade packs, since I would just get a whole new computer when moving to the next version. But with the short turnaround for ~~Vista SP2~~ Windows 7, I would imagine several people wouldn't mind upgrading OS'es without getting new hardware.

If they do have upgrades, I'm just curious how they price Vista Cripple to 7 Ultimate, Vista Home 32 to 7 Premium 64, that kind of combinatorial mess.

**TevashSzat** · 02-05-2009, 23:40

Originally Posted by drone

They had 98-to-XP upgrade packs for years, I thought. I haven't really seen too much demand for XP-to-Vista upgrades, since who in their right mind would trash a perfectly good XP licence (downgrades, on the other hand...). I've never actually used upgrade packs, since I would just get a whole new computer when moving to the next version. But with the short turnaround for ~~Vista SP2~~ Windows 7, I would imagine several people wouldn't mind upgrading OS'es without getting new hardware.

If they do have upgrades, I'm just curious how they price Vista Cripple to 7 Ultimate, Vista Home 32 to 7 Premium 64, that kind of combinatorial mess.

IIRC, all new versions of Vista bought after July of this year will offer a free upgrade to Windows 7.

Not positive on this so I'd look it up somewhere first, but this should be right

**caravel** · 02-05-2009, 23:41

This thread gives me a headache...

As to upgrades I wouldn't touch them, even Linux distribution upgrades are a bit of a lottery. Windows upgrade packs have always been a joke. Even upgrading using a full version is hit and miss. I've tried 2K to XP upgrades on many different machines, old and new, and about half work. The rest have various problems including various BSODs on start up. You usually get to the point where setup restarts the PC and that's it.

**Banquo's Ghost** · 02-06-2009, 16:47

It appears that those who wish to upgrade from XP to 7 will need to completely wipe their hard drive.

“I can confirm that customers will be able to purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 - however, they will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7,” a Microsoft flack confirmed to The Register.

“This requires the user to back up their data, install Windows 7, re-install the programs and restore their data. For PCs running Windows Vista customers have the option of an in-place upgrade of Windows 7 keeping their data and programs intact or to perform a clean install of Windows 7.”

Funny old system, is Windows.

**Lemur** · 02-06-2009, 18:28

Well, if you're going to change Windows operating systems, you should do a clean install anyway. Ask anybody who's been in an IT department—"upgrading" a Windows OS is asking for trouble.

**CrossLOPER** · 02-07-2009, 21:02

I think I'll stay with XP just a little bit longer... like maybe the next ten years. Of course, that's not counting my Vista laptop.

**Spino** · 02-09-2009, 21:40

Why six flavors and not seven? Is MS afraid that a seventh version might break the seventh seal and usher in the apocalypse?

And which one of these flavors is deliciously lubed for my system's enjoyment?

**Tellos Athenaios** · 02-16-2009, 00:39

The UAC supposedly has become more user friendly; proof of which: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02...c_attack_demo/

And I think I'll pass. For what it is worth: hardware wise there will be little to no incentive to upgrade from Vista, both are NT6 after all.