win xp to win7 question

[Debbie Graham]

okay I have XP that I upgraded ,not a full install from win 98, just the
upgrade. My question is, when Win7 comes out can I still use the upgrade
option or do I need to do a full install? I know doing a full install is
better but I can't afford a full version of any OS. Also I have vista on my
laptop that came preinstalled, could I just do a upgrade and not a full
version install on that too?


Debbie

 

[peter]

To date XP is not "upgradeable" to W7 but Vista is.
Who knows by the time it actually goes on sale

peter

 

[Debbie Graham]

Oh crap. I hope it does by the time it goes on sale. Otherwise I'll just
stick with XP until it's support date runs out.

Debbie

 

[JS]

In-Place Upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7
http://www.pagestart.com/upgradexptowindows7.html

The object of an "In-Place Upgrade" is to keep all your XP applications,
user accounts, data files and not be forced to start with a clean install of
Windows 7. Keep in mind a lot of XP applications are not Vista compatible
and it will take time for patches or application upgrades to become
available after the official release of Windows 7.

I would expect but can't sat for sure that there will be a "Windows 7
upgrade" version
as opposed to the full product.

 

[Bill in Co.]

You can stick with XP well beyond when its support date runs out.

 

[Bob Knowlden]

Another poster already responded to this, but I think the response was
misleading. I don't know that Microsoft has officially announced the upgrade
paths, but I believe that they will be:

XP (including the upgrade version) will qualify for you to install Windows 7
using an upgrade license. However, you won't be able to install Win7 as an
actual upgrade over XP (keeping your installed programs, etc.). You'd have
to do a clean installation of it. None of your programs or settings would be
preserved. (The *data* on the drive would not be destroyed, though.) All
that you'll need to buy, though, is an upgrade version.

You will be able to use an upgrade license with your laptop. You could
install Win7 over Vista as an upgrade. (There may be version restrictions
that would require a clean installation, but the laptop should qualify for
an upgrade license.)

In my opinion, a clean installation of Windows 7 is safest. I tried the beta
(build 7000) of Win7. The first time I tried to install it was as an upgrade
over Vista X64. It was a bit of a mess; for example, most of the help files
for Win7 didn't install. A clean re-install was much better.

I don't know if the basic function of a Win7 upgrade license will be similar
to that of a Vista upgrade, but if it is, it's much less usable than the XP
upgrade. An XP upgrade license was essentially as functional as a full
license. (All that was needed over the full license was letting it find
"qualifying media".) A Vista installation using an upgrade license must be
started from a running qualifying OS; it can't be started directly from the
DVD. (It's slightly different in installing Vista X64 with an upgrade
license on a system with a qualifying 32 bit OS; the 32 bit OS can't launch
the 64 bit installation.) In retrospect, I wish that I'd paid the additional
$100US for a full version. It's hard to place a dollar value on annoyance,
but I've probably been through more than $100 worth with that damnable
upgrade license.

I wonder if Win7 will have the same feature as Vista, that is, the
possibility of performing an installation on a bare hard drive using an
upgrade license. (The procedure was: install Vista on the drive without
using a license key. That gives a 30 day demo version. That can be used to
launch the upgrade. In other words, you get a full installation using an
upgrade license, at the price of having to install Vista *twice*.)

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

You may have missed...

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/browse_frm/thread/0dcedf85d0e7df0d

 

[Malcolm McCaffery]

Windows 7 will not be upgradeable from Windows XP. Windows 7 can only
upgrade from Windows Vista. However possibly Windows XP users will be able
to purchase an 'upgrade' but they will have to do a full install. A tool is
included to backup and restore user data, but on Windows XP -> Windows 7 the
applications would need to be reinstalled.

regards,

Malcolm.

 

[Debbie Graham]

So I would still have to upgrade to vista first. I thought win 7 is just a
vista with the sp2

Debbie

 

[Debbie Graham]

I was so worried about installing xp that I love it now. Even better than
my win 98. Maybe by that time another OS will be out. I have so many
programs installed that the thought of reinstalling them
gives me the shivers
Debbie

 

[Debbie Graham]

Sounds like I will have to reinstall all my programs. From what I'm reading
I would have to have a vista upgrade to install over xp then a win 7 cd.
That's a little more money I want to pay for 2 OS's. I may have to suck it
up and reinstall all my programs

Debbie

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Indeed. It may prove more economical to purchase a new Win7 machine. While
you'll be able to use Easy Transfer to migrate your personal data from XP to
Win7, you will have to reinstall any third-party applications (after
confirming they're compatible with Win7, of course).

While some may consider Win7 to be the equivalent of Vista SP3, it's really
not.

 

[Bill in Co.]

I don't see the cause for worry. Just stick with XP. That's what I'm
going to do. If and when the time ever comes that you think you MUST
upgrade to a new OS, as some others have pointed out, maybe by that time
you'll need a new computer, anyway (with the new OS preinstalled), since the
demands on the computer hardware for a new OS keep increasing.

 

[Mike Torello]

I don't see the cause for worry. Just stick with XP. That's what I'm
going to do. If and when the time ever comes that you think you MUST
upgrade to a new OS, as some others have pointed out, maybe by that time
you'll need a new computer, anyway (with the new OS preinstalled), since the
demands on the computer hardware for a new OS keep increasing.

And then you and Bill can meet here and pine away for the good ol'
days like he still does occasionally (I think he has a Win98 fetish)

 

[JS]

Have a friend with a Vista CD, all you need to do is borrow it
(you don't the key code)

 

[JS]

Windows 7 is not VISTA, I never like Vista,
still don't after spending 4 hours on a friends
PC trying to install one software application.

Went home, tried the same software on Win 7
and Vista, guess which OS had not problems with
the install.

Trust me after a short learning period you will like Windows 7.
Yes 7 looks like Vista but its not.

Windows 7 RC for XP users - How to find your way around (Part 2)
http://www.pagestart.com/win7forxpuserspart2.html

 

[Debbie Graham]

Well the thing is I build my own pc. I just upgraded the cpu, power supply,
RAM. The next thing I'll need to do probably in a year or 2 is a new
motherboard and hard drive. Speaking of hard drives, I'm looking for a
faster hard drive so which one would be faster, a SATA 15,000 rpm or a SATA
3.0 gbls?

Debbie

 

[Debbie Graham]

Hey I was happy with Win 98. I had all the bugs out, running perfect.
That's why I was so reluctant to move to XP....lol

Debbie

 

[JS]

15,000 RPM Enterprise level drives improves data access times.
I would expect most 15,000 RPM drives to be SATA-II (3 Gbit/s)
which is the data transfer rate. Data transfer speed wins out over RPM
in most cases for home computers.

The question is why you are looking at a 15000 RPM
drive as opposed to 7,500 or 10,000?

SATA 6 Gbit/s is the next generation and would expect it to be
the fastest.

 

[Bill in Co.]

LOL. My other computer still uses Win98SE and DOS, the last of the good
operating systems where YOU were in (nearly) complete control of the system.
In going to XP, you had to relinquish a bit of that, but I'm
(somewhat reluctantly) content with that, now.