From Betanews:

With Windows Vista nearing its first release candidate in preparation for a final launch early next year, Microsoft is providing more details about possible upgrade paths. Of note: Windows 2000 cannot be upgraded to Vista.

While Windows 2000 Professional customers may purchase a cheaper “upgrade” copy of Microsoft next-generation operating system, Windows Vista must be “clean installed,” which means users will need to back up their files and data manually and then copy everything into place. Applications will also need to be re-installed.

A standard in-place upgrade will “retain your applications, files, and settings as they were in your previous edition of Windows,” according to Microsoft.

The x64 version of Windows XP will also have the same requirement. Although the final release of Vista will include both 32-bit and 64-bit iterations of the OS, Microsoft has not designed an upgrade path for the current x64 release.

Windows XP Professional, meanwhile, can be upgraded only to the Business and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. This is due to features built into XP Pro not being added to the Home Basic and Home Premium SKUs of Vista.

Lots of clean installs and screwing going on here. If you have XP Pro, you’re really screwed because now you have to move to the two highest end Vistas or reinstall and lose some functionality. For an “upgrade.” Folks, take the hint. Time to “upgrade” to Mac OS or Linux and let Microsoft sell their bloated crapware to someone who isn’t as clever.

There have been many articles out about what the Vista upgrade is going to mean for the manufacturers of other machines and operating systems. Judging by this “warning,” I’d say it’s going to be quite interesting, especially considering Ubuntu is free (as is any other Linux distro a home user would need) and Mac OS never comes out above $150 for a complete new retail box, not an upgrade.

Go ahead stooges. Line up for Vista.

Not me.

Technorati Tags: vista, windows xp

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 8:20 am and is filed under Stupid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.