Whining, whining and more whining :( I work in a small size company with many workstations running Linux, Windows, Apple OS, etc and there are no "weeks of unnecessary work and expense ..", there is skillful IT department that handles all upgrades with ease, and yes, everything is a business decision whether to upgrade and when but reading some of the above crap one can come to conclusion that nobody gets any work done because everybody bellyaches night and day about horror of upgrading and yes I have stuff at home that I also upgraded multiple times with no ill effects and no countless days, weeks lost in the process.

Hi MichalWell, ain't you the lucky one?I do envy you.The inescapable fact is that Microsoft do have responsibilities towards their customers and these obligations do not stop simply because unrealistic assumptions are made about their customers' abilities and resources. As their operating systems and software have grown in complexity so too has their responsibilities towards end users who have become locked into using their products. I regard myself as being a reasonably competent self-taught amateur PC 'technician'. I do have an in-depth appreciation of what I would have to go through when I destroy my current stable and useful setup in order to accomplish a successful, but questionable upgrade. However, I have chosen not to go down that path at this time because it is both unnecessary and I don't need the hassle. Come 2014 it is likely I will be thinking differently but, until then..........Clearly my needs and your needs differ, so let's leave it at that.Regards,Mike

Large corporations are not ever going to upgrade their entire systems every time MS bring out a new OS. Most, positively avoided Vista with all its problems. If MS bring out a new system every couple of years the only people that will buy are new customers and a few home users. Thr corporations want a system that is 200% reliable for the forseeable future. So any new Windows versions have to be as reliable as XP right from the start in order to entice someone to buy. I will continue to use XP for some years yet.vololiberista

Two points.1 - Microsoft clearly spells out the details of its product life cycles on http://support.micro...m/gp/lifeselect. Beyond that, it has no further responsibility to anyone. Try Googling, say, "Ford product life cycle" and see if you can find the same information.2 - In my experience firms do not generally upgrade every time Microsoft introduces a new product. My last firm went from Windows 98 directly to XP. It's a mjor international consultancy with 10000+ staff worldwide. The upgrade took place over a weekend. We logged off 98 on Friday eveing and loged onto XP on Monday morning. We had a professional IT team so it went perfectly smoothly with no problems.

Two points.1 - Microsoft clearly spells out the details of its product life cycles on http://support.micro...m/gp/lifeselect. Beyond that, it has no further responsibility to anyone. Try Googling, say, "Ford product life cycle" and see if you can find the same information.2 - In my experience firms do not generally upgrade every time Microsoft introduces a new product. My last firm went from Windows 98 directly to XP. It's a mjor international consultancy with 10000+ staff worldwide. The upgrade took place over a weekend. We logged off 98 on Friday eveing and loged onto XP on Monday morning. We had a professional IT team so it went perfectly smoothly with no problems.

Hi mgh,1. Cuts no ice with me. Far too convenient and, as far as I'm concerned, they shouldn't be allowed to evade their responsibilities so easily. The world changed when Windows XP appeared on the scene. Microsoft's perpetual moving of the goal posts, just to suit its commercial interests, should be restrained far more vigorously than at present. It appears 60% of the world's XP users may agree with me. I am not a luddite, far from it, but if Microsoft genuinely would like me to change to Windows7 then they need to provide an incentive other than attempting to force the issue by withdrawing all support in 2014.2. Great. I'm happy for you. What more can I say?Let's get one thing straight. You are happy with Windows7 just as I am happy with Windows XP. I see no advantage in making the change right now, a view that appears to be shared by the majority of Windows users out there across the globe. So, why not just accept things as they are for you are hitting your head against the proverbial brick wall. Be patient, in time the rest of us will catch up. Indeed, it's perfectly possible you may find us leap frogging over you in a few years just as many did when they jumped from XP to W7. Technology will have made further advances and, perish the thought, you may find yourself starting to feel as I do right now.Regards,Mike

There really is NO wrong answer here; all the thread on this I have read, both sides are correct. I'll add my two cents. I was on the State Farm AERO-2 project some years ago. (Agent Equipment Roll Out-2) This project was to bring their agent in-office servers from WinNT to Windows 2000 and their workstations from WinNT to WinXP. State Farm, at the time and may still be, was the largest wholly owned Win network in the world. They own ALL the equipment down to the agent's office; Agents lease it from State Farm in Naperville, IL.Anyway, we had 300+ technicians in the field, doing over 13,000 conversions and it took us 6-8 months. I personally did over 85 sites, one a day Mon - Fri for 6 months. (some larger networks took 2 days in agent offices) And I only had a 100-mile radius!So, while it may be a HUGE undertaking, companies DO it. But they will do it in whatever time is best for them. Consumers, will do it the same way. I don't see a need for all the mud slinging here, both sides are correct.

There really is NO wrong answer here; all the thread on this I have read, both sides are correct. So, while it may be a HUGE undertaking, companies DO it. But they will do it in whatever time is best for them. Consumers, will do it the same way. I don't see a need for all the mud slinging here, both sides are correct.

At last, the voice of reason :)I couldn't agree more.Thanks, John.However, my views regarding Microsoft's part in all this stands.Regards,Mike

Hi mgh,1. Cuts no ice with me. Far too convenient and, as far as I'm concerned, they shouldn't be allowed to evade their responsibilities so easily. The world changed when Windows XP appeared on the scene. Microsoft's perpetual moving of the goal posts, just to suit its commercial interests, should be restrained far more vigorously than at present. It appears 60% of the world's XP users may agree with me. I am not a luddite, far from it, but if Microsoft genuinely would like me to change to Windows7 then they need to provide an incentive other than attempting to force the issue by withdrawing all support in 2014.2. Great. I'm happy for you. What more can I say?Let's get one thing straight. You are happy with Windows7 just as I am happy with Windows XP. I see no advantage in making the change right now, a view that appears to be shared by the majority of Windows users out there across the globe. So, why not just accept things as they are for you are hitting your head against the proverbial brick wall. Be patient, in time the rest of us will catch up. Indeed, it's perfectly possible you may find us leap frogging over you in a few years just as many did when they jumped from XP to W7. Technology will have made further advances and, perish the thought, you may find yourself starting to feel as I do right now.Regards,Mike

You really should read other people's posts before rushing into print, otherwise it makes your arguments look silly. I never said I used Windows7 for the simple reason I don't. I still use XPand Office 2000 because they both still suit me. I have no intention of changing either until I have to buy a new PC. Then I'll accept whatever software's pre-installed without whining or expecting the government (the government???) to tell Microsoft what it can and cannot do. I've upgraded that way before all the way from DOS and I expect I'll be able to do it again. Incidentally, I recall people whining about have to go from DOS to Windows. People don't really change do they?

You really should read other people's posts before rushing into print, otherwise it makes your arguments look silly.

Hi mgh,You are right and I apologise. I have now reviewed your posts and, to be fair, while you did not state that you have moved to Windows7 the tenor of your responses did seem to imply that this might have been the case. I made that assumption and now I see I was wrong. Mea culpa :(Nevertheless, I don't believe that this weakens my arguments in any way whatsoever.We must agree to differ and watch while this issue plays itself out one way or t'other. One thing we can be certain about and that is history has shown that Microsoft aren't about to change their policies just because a few malcontents like me voice their views on a public forum such as this, and that unfortunate attitude still characterizes many monopolies out there.Regards,Mike

Then I would suggest Microsoft have a responsibility to provide the necessary support to facilitate the transition.

I guess I don't understand this statement. What kind of support are you talking about? What I see on MSs website is page after page about how to tell if your computer can deal with a new OS, how to install it, and how to use it. This for large and small users.Besides, if we are to ever lure Mac users away from the dark side(just kidding)then XP is not the way. W7 looks much more like what they are used too. Bob

Besides, if we are to ever lure Mac users away from the dark side(just kidding)then XP is not the way. Bob

Bob Bob Bob. :( How you doing?RJ

Bob Bob Bob. :( How you doing?RJ

Just kidding, as I said.Good to hear from you,RJ. I'm doing OK.Bob

I guess I don't understand this statement. What kind of support are you talking about? What I see on MSs website is page after page about how to tell if your computer can deal with a new OS, how to install it, and how to use it. This for large and small users.Besides, if we are to ever lure Mac users away from the dark side(just kidding)then XP is not the way. W7 looks much more like what they are used too. Bob

Hi Bob,My beef with Microsoft is, quite simply, I feel I'm being punished from having dared to stray from their upgrade path by avoiding Vista. I didn't buy a copy of Vista therefore Microsoft makes my life difficult by forcing me to perform a clean install of Windows7. I will then have to reinstall all my programs and restore all my data - not a five minute job by any means.Now, I suppose I could upgrade to Vista and then immediately upgrade to Windows7, but why should I be forced down this route in order to keep my file settings and programs intact? They say it's not possible to jump directly from XP to Windows7. So why hasn't a way been found to produce a disk incorporating those necessary core components of the Vista upgrade during the move to Windows7 since, quite evidently, this must be possible to achieve?Regards,Mike

Hi Bob,My beef with Microsoft is, quite simply, I feel I'm being punished from having dared to stray from their upgrade path by avoiding Vista. I didn't buy a copy of Vista therefore Microsoft makes my life difficult by forcing me to perform a clean install of Windows7. I will then have to reinstall all my programs and restore all my data - not a five minute job by any means.Now, I suppose I could upgrade to Vista and then immediately upgrade to Windows7, but why should I be forced down this route in order to keep my file settings and programs intact? They say it's not possible to jump directly from XP to Windows7. So why hasn't a way been found to produce a disk incorporating those necessary core components of the Vista upgrade during the move to Windows7 since, quite evidently, this must be possible to achieve?Regards,Mike

Here's the simple answer - MS doesn't care if you upgrade or not (note that there is no upgrade path from Office 2007 to Office 2010 either - their sales studies showed that Office upgrade sales were a very small fraction of total sales). The majority of OS sales are to OEMs and Corporates who generally do whole system deployments rather than upgrades. MS doesn't hate you, or XP for that matter; you simply don't figure in the overall economic picture. Sooner or later you'll buy a new machine and the odds are that Win7 will come with it.DJ

Hi Bob,My beef with Microsoft is, quite simply, I feel I'm being punished from having dared to stray from their upgrade path by avoiding Vista. I didn't buy a copy of Vista therefore Microsoft makes my life difficult by forcing me to perform a clean install of Windows7. I will then have to reinstall all my programs and restore all my data - not a five minute job by any means.Now, I suppose I could upgrade to Vista and then immediately upgrade to Windows7, but why should I be forced down this route in order to keep my file settings and programs intact? They say it's not possible to jump directly from XP to Windows7. So why hasn't a way been found to produce a disk incorporating those necessary core components of the Vista upgrade during the move to Windows7 since, quite evidently, this must be possible to achieve?Regards,Mike

Thanks, MikeI certianly see your point. But correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say I have XP then upgrade to Vista, then upgrade to W7, then later on I have a problem and have to reinstall the OS. Don't I have to go back and reinstall all three OSs? In that case, I think I'd rather have the full OS, and not go the upgrade route.Bob

Thanks, MikeI certianly see your point. But correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say I have XP then upgrade to Vista, then upgrade to W7, then later on I have a problem and have to reinstall the OS. Don't I have to go back and reinstall all three OSs? In that case, I think I'd rather have the full OS, and not go the upgrade route.

I think there is the "official" MS story, and then there is reality. I bought a win7 upgrade "three pack" and had no trouble installing and passing all the "genuine" checks on a virgin HD. You just need to install without entering the product key, and then after installing entering the key in the activation wiz. At least for the retail SKU. Maybe different with the student ver download image.I then did an in place upgrade on my wife's Vista 64 laptop. After the main install completed it took a couple hours for the settings migration process to complete, but it did.I guess Win 7 sp1 RC is now out?scott s..