Microsoft releases complicated Windows 7 upgrade chart
Are you planning to upgrade to Windows 7 come Oct. 22 when the new OS is released to general availability? Then good luck, because judging by the upgrade chart released by Microsoft it’s a confusing and complicated business.
It isn’t really that confusing or complicated but the upgrade chart released by Microsoft certainly makes it appear so.
There are millions of people out there currently running Windows XP or Vista on their PC who will want to upgrade to Windows 7 after it is released in October. And that’s a good thing because Windows 7 is shaping up to be a fine operating system, better than Vista and light years ahead of XP. the only problem is understanding the steps involved in upgrading.
The good news is that most people choosing to upgrade will have an easy time of it, so long as they’re upgrading to the corresponding version of Windows 7 of the OS they are using now. XP users are going to have to do a clean install (or custom install as Microsoft calls it) but that was already accepted and understood. But Vista to Windows 7 is as easy as pie, even in Europe now that Windows 7 E has been given the elbow.
Why then, when Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital asked Microsoft to provide an upgrade chart for his readers, did he receive the confusing monstrosity you can see above?
Ed Bott, the noted Microsoft commentator, took the company to task over this stupidly over-complicated mess on ZDNet. He noted it even includes an entire row “dedicated to a product that doesn’t exist: Windows Vista Starter 64-bit edition (Vista Starter is available in 32-bit only).” And then he set about creating his own version of the chart which displays the relevant information without needlessly confusing the issue. His brilliantly simple-to-understand effort is below.
If Windows 7 is really going to achieve the market share and consumer take-up Microsoft wants it to, then consumers upgrading their current systems to the OS is essential, rather than relying purely on people buying new systems with Windows 7 pre-installed. Persuading people that upgrading is a good idea isn’t going to be achieved by stunts such as this. Hopefully Microsoft will adopt Bott’s chart instead.
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August 9th, 2009
Wow. Mossberg is dissing Microsoft. I’m utterly shocked.
I guess the idea some PR flack sent an outdated or early version is beyond the pale.
All those people buying 7 next week are going to be really confused aren’t they?
It’s a couple of months out.
August 10th, 2009
Errr, what is so complicated about the chart? You have two options, either fresh install or upgrade. Pretty simple so far.
If you want to change from 32bit to 64bit it is pretty obvious you have to do a fresh install. Something Ed Blott’s chart doesn’t take into account. The only error is the inclusion of the 64bit line under Vista Starter. Big deal.
August 10th, 2009
Windows 7 doesn’t look much different then Windows Vista. Microsoft is again about to rob people. Download Windows 7 from file hosting sites or torrent.
August 11th, 2009
Ivan, why risk using potentially dodgy filesharing sites, when you can still download it for free from Microsoft themselves? Windows 7 certainly looks a lot like vista, but it runs considerably faster. Well worth the upgrade. I just hope they drop the price, especially for existing Vista owners, because at the moment it is too expensive. I can actually get an OEM copy of vista which now comes with a free upgrade to windows 7, for less than the discounted version of windows 7.
August 12th, 2009
Ivan, please support your position that violating copyright law is a better practice than a supplier charging a higher price than you would prefer to pay.