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Windows
7
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 Windows Vista, and its many versions, lasted pretty
long. Beta 1 Windows Vista was announced in the middle of 2005. Can you
believe it?
Maybe saying Vista lasted pretty long is misleading. After
all, its not like people rushed to buy Vista, people just
kept on using Windows XP. Microsoft tried to force people to buy into
Vista. They discontinued support, every June. Then Microsoft said
"no more XP on new PCs". But customers demanded
downgrades from Vista to XP.
Vista is pretty though and it did some pretty important
things for Microsoft. Like lowering the bar for Windows 7 for instance.
Like pointing out that people won't give up XP functionality. Like
getting people used to being jacked around by a shell game when it
comes to upgrades.
Windows 7 has several versions; Windows 7 Home Premium
Upgrade at $119, Windows 7 Professional Upgrade at $199, and Windows
7 Ultimate Upgrade at at $219. Before you get too excited and run out to
buy 7 lets play the Windows 7 Upgrade shell game.
OK, see if you can find the pea. If you have Windows
Vista Ultimate you can upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate, but not 7
Professional or 7 Home Premium. With Vista Business you can go to 7
Ultimate or 7 Professional but not 7 Home Premium. Vista Home Premium gets
you 7 Home Premium but not 7 Professional, but you can have 7 Ultimate. The
same applies for Vista Home Basic. If you have XP you're skip out of luck.
I know, they "promised" XP people a free
upgrade to 7, and you'll get one. You see there are upgrades that are upgrades
and upgrades that are not upgrades. Upgrades that are not upgrades are
called custom installs. Oh, there's the pea. Upgrading from Windows XP to
Windows 7 is a custom install.
Microsoft has this to say about that:
A custom (clean) installation erases the contents of your
PC's hard drive. Your files, settings, and programs will not be transferred
to Windows 7. That means that to install Windows 7, you'll need to:
Backup all the files and settings you want to keep
Reinstall all the programs you want to use.
These four steps take time, some technical skill
and Windows Easy Transfer can help. However, If you're not
comfortable with this process, please consider having the installation done
by a local service provider.
Once you've backed up all your stuff, wiped XP off your PC,
installed Windows 7 and reinstalled all your data, and software, you
can run Windows 7 in XP Emulation Mode. It doesn't seem to make alot
of sense spending hundreds of dollars, and a three day weekend, doing
a custom install from XP to 7 just to emulate XP. But anyway.
Now that you really, really, have to have WIndows 7 you
probably should know if you can even run it on your PC. Microsoft
has this to say about that:
If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it
takes:
1 gigahertz (GHz) or
faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM
(32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard
disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
HomeGroup requires
a network and PCs running Windows 7
Windows XP
Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM, an additional 15 GB of
available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware
virtualization with Intel VT or AMD-V turned on.
Evidently Windows 7's XP Mode takes alot more to run
than XP Classic.
Look, Windows is the leader in a big way, and rightfully so,
and I have nothing but love for Windows. Linux, Mac, please! As a
matter of fact, the Mac commercials bashing Windows are
about as offensive as politics. Lets compare apples to Apples Mac. Mac
software runs on one PC, one that costs 3 times as much as the ones
Windows runs on. I can get a sexy little Netbook with Windows for $329.
What can you do for me Mr. one-thousand-dollars MacIntosh? Oh, and the
virus thing. Macs don't get viruses because nobody writes viruses to attack
them. Why attack a handful of audiophiles and graphic
artists when you can cripple major businesses? You can't even
right-click a Mac. I can, but you can't. Anyway.
Windows 7 is an Operating System. It makes the PC work.
That, is what, it does. Its not a game, its not fun, its an Operating
System. It does have lots of Vista, also an Operating System, and
Vista is really pretty. Vista even has a sheep-in-a-foggy-meadow-morning
Desktop Background. I'm not sure if Windows 7 does. While most Operating
System improvements are invisible to us Microsoft seems to put alot of
effort into sheep and such.
Now that we have a handle on all the rigmarole over
upgrading an Operating System, here's what I'm thinking; Buy a
new PC with Windows 7, load Microsoft Office, use Windows Easy
Transfer to copy your data, and get back to work. Buying a Windows 7
Upgrade and the required upgrades to your PC and getting Geek Squad to migrate your
files and programs is going to cost more than a new PC. Not as much as a
Mac, but alot, maybe almost half a Mac.
Maybe a new Windows 7 PC is the way to go, maybe
you'll go buy a Mac, but that's your call, and that's Cocktail Talk.
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Craig Phillips
CN Consulting, Inc.
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CN Consulting, Inc - www.cnci.us
Computer Consulting for Business!
CN
Consulting provides Fortune 500 quality IT Services to organizations
without an IT Department.
We focus on small to mid-size businesses with up to 30 networked computers
supporting every aspect of business computing. Networking, support,
training, application development, website and email. Everything from one
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CN Consulting Inc. (CNCI) Is a female owned and operated consulting
company serving Chicago and the Greater Milwaukee area since 1990.
CNCI brings to your business over 25 years of consulting experience.
With clients ranging from Fortune 200 companies to small scale operations,
CNCI offers your business the quality and experience of a large consulting
firm, but with personal, hands-on attention.
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