upgrade

[none]

Alright, here is a situation, that I'm sure a few of you have dealt with,
so I apologize in advance for the repitition. I've just purchased a laptop
from HP with windows xp home pre-installed. The particular configuration
of the laptop would not allow me to choose windows xp professional.

I now need to upgrade from xp home to xp pro. I do not, however
feel that I should be forced to pay $199 for the retail upgrade. HP
said that I would have to buy the retail version from a retailer. The
effervescent but unaccomodating customer service rep. from
shop.microsoft.com said my only options were the $199 upgrade
or the $299 full version. Now let me break down the math
as it appears to me:

Full Retail Version - Windows XP Home........................$199
Full Retail Version - Windows XP Pro............................$299


home - $199
+ upgrade $199
_________________
total $398


I can't understand the logic of gouging users who have already
bought into your product family out of an extra $100 dollars.
I feel that under no circumstance should I be forced to spend over
$300 for a working version of XP Pro.

I have heard about special product pricing for XP Pro from XP Home
Upgrades but have been unable to find one to date.

I'm feeling very frustated at the moment. Between the multiple service
pack and security patches that I've been scrambling to install, this
issue could very well turn into the straw that broke the camel's back.

I'm very, VERY tempted to install Redhat on all my user's machines
and call it a day. I know that the loss of a handful of machines is
insignificant to the mighty microsoft machine, but it is the only recourse
that I have as a consumer. I am currently a very disgruntled user. Please,
Microsoft, make me a happy customer.

 

[D.Currie]

That's all very nice, but you're not talking to MS here. Just a bunch of
other MS users. And you've got the math wrong anyway, as you didn't pay $199
for your copy of Home. That would be the retail price. You didn't get
retail, you got OEM which knocks the price down to about a hundred even. And
not even a good OEM, you "bought" HP's preinstalled, customized, no CD
version that's worth almost nothing in my book, although you paid something
for it. But well under a hundred, I'm sure.

You might want to reconsider and buy the full version instead, as you only
have the preinstalled hidden partition to use as your qualifying product for
the upgrade. If that hard drive goes belly-up after HPs warranty expires,
you won't even have that. No hard drive = no OS.

Or reconsider even more and buy something other than HP where you can get
the OS you want as well as a reasonable recovery solution.

 

[none]

Why did you even respond? On top of your condescension, you offered no real
insight.
First, if I had wanted to talk to microsoft, I would have emailed them.
Next, the point is
that the upgrade costs the same for all users, even the users who bought the
full retail version
of XP home.

The next time you consider spouting garbage, please don't.

 

[David]

Alright, here is a situation, that I'm sure a few of you have dealt
with, so I apologize in advance for the repitition. I've just
purchased a laptop from HP with windows xp home pre-installed. The
particular configuration of the laptop would not allow me to choose
windows xp professional.

I now need to upgrade from xp home to xp pro. I do not, however
feel that I should be forced to pay $199 for the retail upgrade. HP
said that I would have to buy the retail version from a retailer. The
effervescent but unaccomodating customer service rep. from
shop.microsoft.com said my only options were the $199 upgrade
or the $299 full version. Now let me break down the math
as it appears to me:

Full Retail Version - Windows XP Home........................$199
Full Retail Version - Windows XP Pro............................$299


home - $199
+ upgrade $199
_________________
total $398


I can't understand the logic of gouging users who have already
bought into your product family out of an extra $100 dollars.
I feel that under no circumstance should I be forced to spend over
$300 for a working version of XP Pro.

I have heard about special product pricing for XP Pro from XP Home
Upgrades but have been unable to find one to date.

I'm feeling very frustated at the moment. Between the multiple
service pack and security patches that I've been scrambling to
install, this issue could very well turn into the straw that broke the
camel's back.

I'm very, VERY tempted to install Redhat on all my user's machines
and call it a day. I know that the loss of a handful of machines is
insignificant to the mighty microsoft machine, but it is the only
recourse that I have as a consumer. I am currently a very disgruntled
user. Please, Microsoft, make me a happy customer.

If you wanted Pro, You should have bought Pro.
If the vendor doesn't offer Pro, Go somewhere else. Nobody siad you had
to buy HP. In fact, Many would recommend against it.

--

David

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"

 

[Bee]

If you wanted Pro, You should have bought Pro.
If the vendor doesn't offer Pro, Go somewhere else. Nobody siad you had
to buy HP. In fact, Many would recommend against it.

"None", you feel frustrated now. Waite till you get your WinXP Pro; you
will kick yourself when you then find you have no use, or have use once in a
blue moon, for the extra features. Compare the two editions placed
alongside with each other, and you will see what I mean. I, as a lone
at-home computer user, would not even entertain the thought of a needlessly
weighty OS occupying my hard disk space. A lean, clean, fast and efficient
machine is what I want.

Incidentally, all the participants here are, like you, independent souls,
not related to MS. The common denominator otherwise is an interest in one
OS, which happens to be a MS product.