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MS To Offer Free Windows 7 Upgrade To Vista Users

crazyeyes writes "With Windows 7 set for release in Dec. 09, Microsoft is getting ready with their free upgrade program, which allows Vista users to switch to Windows 7 when it arrives. The folks at TechARP have consistently scored accurate scoops on Microsoft software releases. They have now revealed Microsoft's upgrade plans, schedules and even screenshots of the upgrade process."

8 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Re:2 months to april by k_187 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Because it seems that Win7 might actually be a decent OS and there has to be something to harp on. What? You expect people to admit that Microsoft is fixing something they screwed up?

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  2. Re:Fool me once, shame on you by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Given that Win7 is supposed to have a smaller number of services running by default, and a number of optimizations to boot, you probably won't get worse perf on Win7. I can't guarantee better perf, but when you're operating with that little memory, *any* improvement in Win7's memory usage will have a noticeable effect (of course, if you are disabling unnecessary Vista services yourself you'll probably get a lot of the benefit).

    As for drivers, you should be fine. They aren't changing the driver model for Win7, so Vista drivers will work with it.

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  3. Re:Fool me once, shame on you by f0dder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You had enough money to buy an OS but none left over for RAM?

  4. Re:I see your free software and raise you? by geekoid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I used 2000 until 6 months ago.
    I wanted to upgrade to 64 bit and vista seemed the best move*.

    While there are parts of vista that drive me up a wall(most I've turned off), overall I don't mind it. I was surprised at how I enjoyed the GUI.

    * I have demands that require MS Windows.

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  5. Re:No News by ForrestFire439 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Good call. I hope everyone reads this comment. I was getting all excited 'cause I didn't RTFA and I thought I'd get to upgrade my existing Vista laptop for free (perhaps in a surprise concession by Microsoft that Vista sucks the proverbial monkey cock). Alas, no such luck. I guess this one's going to end up running nix after all. (not that that's a bad thing).

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    "Bread and Circuses is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure." --Robert Heinlien
  6. Re:I see your free software and raise you? by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You know what I think is sad? It is how according to TFA this is only for the OEMs. Which unless they have announced differently means any poor sap who actually bought Vista at retail is getting boned twice. First by buying Vista at retail, second for getting stuck with it(which you know MSFT will dump Vista support faster than WinME thanks to its bad rep) while everyone who bought a Dell gets it free. Man that is just sorry.

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  7. Used Windows 7 for two months. by QJimbo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I originally installed the 6936 x64 beta and was very impressed, however, I then made the mistake of upgrading the beta to 7000. After that everything was sluggish and slow and unbearable (worse than Vista). My own fault, but it didn't really make a great deal of sense. If they don't sort out upgrading by release, they'll have a lot of angry users who tried upgrading from Vista.

    Asides from that the main pet peeve I had was sound quality. For some reason sound quality on Windows 7 and Vista is just plain awful, lacking fidelity and bass. It's not a driver issue either as it's the same with 3 different soundcards I've tried on both Vista and XP.

    At any rate I'm back on Windows XP now with Windows Fundamentals. Fastest version of XP I've ever used and isn't crippled like the tinyXP homebrew isos. When you use an OS for some time you realise that shinyness doesn't matter, and responsiveness does. Starting your computer, loading programs and switching between tasks needs to go as quickly as possible, otherwise it becomes a frustrating barrier on your creativity.

  8. Re:Misleading summary by vux984 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Microsoft will have to have a pretty big change in ideology for them to ever compete with piracy.

    Yeah, but most things are like that. Want a car?

    Buy one? Ugh, work for a few years to save enough money, then go in plunk it down, and drive out.
    Lease one? Ugh, plunk money down every month, and end up owning nothing?
    Steal one? Walk up to a car you like, get in, drive away.

    Toyota will have to have a pretty big change in ideology for them to ever compete with piracy.

    What's the difference?

    Stealing a car is harder than downloading something from usenet? Barely, especially if you aren't that particular about the car. And spending a few hours learning how to steal a car will 'pay off' far quicker than earning enough to buy one.

    The big difference is that because stealing a car is theft, and having a stolen car is fairly visible, and its something the police actually pay some attention to, odds are if you try to use this method for your daily commute you will surely eventually be caught.

    So effectively the practical difference between stealing cars and downloading pirate oses is primarily one of enforcement. The only thing that's going to motivate people like you not to pirate OSes is if the odds of being caught and punished were significantly raised.