SOFTWARE ARTICLES

Q & A for Windows 7. What does it mean for you?

Microsoft is preparing to introduce Windows 7 as the successor to Vista in the fall of 2009 or early 2010. What does that mean for you at home and work? While Windows 7 has the look and feel of Vista, several informal benchmark tests show it to be a superior performer to Vista and XP in boot and shut down time, file management and loading documents.

What about upgrade paths?

From XP, there is no direct upgrade path to Windows 7, it requires a clean install and there is no indication that compatibility issues with XP drivers or software are to be addressed.

From Vista, an upgrade path is planned, but details are sketchy. The preferred method if you are already running Vista is a clean install, and if you are going from 32 bit to 64 bit, a clean install is required.

What if I buy a new Vista Machine now?

Several months before final release of Windows 7, Microsoft will make a decision to provide free upgrade coupons from Vista to Windows 7, as they did during the transition from XP to Vista. Until then when you buy, understand you will have to purchase an upgrade to get Windows 7.

What does this mean for my business?

It means planning ahead for the change over, because at some point Microsoft will stop selling XP. We anticipated this 18 months ago and all of our systems sold to customers since that date have been Vista compatible, even though the machines came with XP. If you have legacy machines running XP, then we will need to work closely with you when transition time arrives.