Microsoft to offer xp to win 7 upgrades

[saltynay]

Those who have decided to stick with XP, rather than make the move to Vista, may be pleased to hear than Microsoft will be offering XP - Windows 7 upgrades!

Microsoft Corp. today (3rd February) confirmed that it will sell what it calls "upgrades" for Windows 7 to users running the aged Windows XP operating system.
Those users, however, will have to do a "clean" installation of Windows 7, meaning that all data on the machine will be lost.

Regarding XP, customers can purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail this morning (3rd February).
"However, they will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7."

Read more on Computer World.

 

[Nukem]

I think I'll wait until it's out and see what happens then... I don't have the MS frame of mind. "If ain't broke, fix it until it is"

 

[Jorsoft]

I don't fully understand Microsoft's compulsion to get everyone off XP. Most people and businesses are all finally on a fairly solid platform that's been around long enough that it's the norm and they want to discontinue it for Windows 7 and Vista. There's no reason not to keep it around for a few years, especially for businesses. It helps their older PCs still run everything fine, they'd never be able to handle Vista or 7.

 

[carnageX]

Pretty sure its more driven towards home users anyway, jorsoft. As upgrading machines in businesses would cost too much than its worth. There's places still on Win 2k. Your logic makes it sounds like we shoulda stayed on Win 2k, because that's what some businesses are still on. Home users =/= business users.

 

[Jayce]

I don't fully understand Microsoft's compulsion to get everyone off XP. Most people and businesses are all finally on a fairly solid platform that's been around long enough that it's the norm and they want to discontinue it for Windows 7 and Vista. There's no reason not to keep it around for a few years, especially for businesses. It helps their older PCs still run everything fine, they'd never be able to handle Vista or 7.

Anybody can argue me on this point all they want. But at work, a very large school district, we use what works and what gets the job done.

That's exactly why we have nothing BUT 2k Pro/XP Pro machines.

I personally have nothing against Vista on a home basis, but at work I wouldn't DREAM of using it. The cost to upgrade the computers to handle it would be exceeding 2 million dollars. I know this for a fact because, well, we did the math already.

As a result of Win 7 being rumored to use less resources, we plan to stick with XP until we hear confirmation on the "real world" implication of 7 in other districts. Then, we'll upgrade, bypassing Vista all together.

Again, I even use Vista at home in dual boot. I just wouldn't dream of using it in a practical sense at a business environment of this size.

I am very happy to hear Microsoft is making this move, though. It's smart on their part since they acknowledge the XP community is still very alive.

Edit - Carnage: In response to what you mentioned about MS's target audience in terms of going from XP to 7, we wouldn't have considered it even if the cost was a few pennies. There's two problems we would encounter if we went to Vista. A: Computers we have wouldn't handle it. B: We would have incompatibility issues out the wazoo. If we would have beaten problem A, you still have B.

 

[carnageX]

Edit - Carnage: In response to what you mentioned about MS's target audience in terms of going from XP to 7, we wouldn't have considered it even if the cost was a few pennies. There's two problems we would encounter if we went to Vista. A: Computers we have wouldn't handle it. B: We would have incompatibility issues out the wazoo. If we would have beaten problem A, you still have B.

As for the incompatibility issue, that's why there are software updates. If the company isn't updating their own software, then they're not doing a very good job. But this again goes back to the money issue: it'd cost way too much for a business to upgrade all of their machines, test for compatibilties, etc. THis is why I said it's geared more towards home users; as they don't have to upgrade hundreds of machines.

Then again, if a business can do it for relatively nothing (in your example of "doing it for a few pennies"), and everything is compatible, then why not make the jump?

I know even Mak has argued on this point, that it's indeed not worth it for businesses to upgrade, as they have too many machines, and would cost a lot in time and hardware upgrades; not to mention training.

 

[Jayce]

The software updates that Microsoft offers versus the compatibility from applications we MUST use are two different things.

Fact - Vista isn't supported much in the educational industry.

Hence, we use 2k Pro and XP. That was my point. It wasn't anything really against Vista, but the point is if our applications don't work, we can't use it.

 

[KSoD]

Alright seriously i am sick of this Vista junk.

I have said it in the Win7 Thread and i will say it here.

NO Vista is not highly used for businesses and educational places. This has NOTHING AT ALL to do with the OS itself. This has EVERYTHING to do with $$.

Places are not using Vista cause of its reputation. They are not using it cause it will cost them MILLIONS to get it incorporated, updated to work with their software, and their employees trained on using it.

The same thing will be said and done of Windows 7 till the time that XP is finally killed. Since places can continue to use Windows XP and get support for it there is no reason why they should spend this kind of money to upgrade to the newer stuff. Be it if they need hardware updates or software or both.

The FACT is that Vista DOES work. The FACT is that the developers are the ones to blame if somethign DOESNT work. Vista has been out for almost 2 years now. There is no reason why software shouldnt work with it at this point. That is squarely on the developers and has nothing to do with Microsoft.

These people that did the educational software, medical software and all that are the ones to blame for the fact that it doesnt work on Vista. 2 years is plenty of time to get it working. If some place did want to upgrade it is because of them that they can not.

I am sick of the blame being placed on Vista and it "Not Working" when that is a load of junk. It does work. SP1 made it better. SP2 will make it even better than with SP1. People need to get over this mis-conception that Vista doesnt work. They need to get on the developers and the manufacturer's to get on the ball and make the stuff work.

IT didnt even take companies this long to adopt XP. But for some reason they wont adopt Vista. Cause Microsoft shot themselves in teh foot and said that they would support it till 2014 which is long after Win7 and possibly even Win8.

So this whole thing that people say it doesnt work is wrong. This whole thing that people think businesses are not on Vista is wrong cause there are several that are.

The fact is the money is what is stopping people from doing it. That and the developers from their lack of commitment to Vista. If they would have spent just a little time to getting things right with Vista, Windows 7 would be even better.

 

[Hefemeister]

Here is the deal it all comes down to simple economics. Most companies do want to spend the money to upgrade to Vista. As a result the demand upon developers is not high enough for them to spend the money on making their products Vista compatible. Ultimately it is not the fault of M$ nor the fault of the "lazy" developers. The ultimate blame should be places on Businesses for not adapting to Vista. But, you see the vicious circle here because we are back to businesses spending money.

Vista works great. If software manufactures had enough demand they would put more money into development. It is too bad because it holds back the ability for M$ to further develop their product for businesses due to current lack of usage.

Why did we use vhs over beta when beta was a superior format? Economics. The pron industry went to the vhs format and demand was higher. (there are a few other reasons but that one is my favorite)

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Sorry but I noticed most schools in kentucky stayed with windows 98 up untill about 4 years ago, then they finaly went to windows 2000, then less than 6 months later went along to xp, most of it is because it is easier for teachers and students to use instead of having the latest a greatest change on older teachers all the time it's easier to keep older software that can actualy run. Now the new high school that was built in my old county is running all Vista buisness and server 08... But they also plan on upgrading the old schools to vista or win7 when win7 comes out...