So this started a couple days ago within my circle of friends, one of them heard that there was not going to be an upgrade path from XP to Win 7. Most of them started to say how this was stupid of Microsoft and how it was just going to piss off more people after the Vista issues.
I disagree completely with this logic.
See, I don’t know of anyone that uses an upgrade path for OSes anymore. It is just silly. Nearly every single time I have installed an OS as an upgrade it has lead to the machine needing a format and reload. Thing just don’t usually translate well. Plus, it is just nicer to have a clean machine for the new OS to play in.
And really how is Win 7 going to get into the hand of people, they are going to buy a new machine with Win 7 preinstalled or they are going to buy a copy. And buying a copy by itself, yeah, I only know the computer savvy to do that and we like to nuke our drives for that squeeky clean feeling for the new install.
The other way it is going to be in the users hands is in the work place. And I know few places that are going to just hand discs out for random installs in the workplace. They are going to either purchase a machine with it preinstalled or an IT professional is going to prototype, test and probably make an image for a rollout. And I don’t see using a preinstalled XP for the prototyping.
Anyone that is using this as an excuse to think Microsoft is doing something stupid just isn’t thinking about it. I think it is wise to make this cut off. Win 7 at its core is similar to the core of Vista. That means drivers are the same mostly. XP drivers are not compatible. And if anything is going to break an install, it is drivers. It is nearly always drivers.
So I am looking forward to Win 7. It has been working better than Vista in my experience. I am looking forward to using it at home and I am planning on suggesting it for replacement for XP in many of the work places I watch over.
I just fear the SKUs.
Tags: rants