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Awards
Meet our 10 favorite
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they’re all free!Another
Reason Not
to Upgrade
to Vista
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Ed Word
Please send Frosted Mini-Wheats
Big Bites to [email protected].APRIL 2007 MAXIMUMPC
(^40)
Spotlight
on Cases
We torture-test seven hot
new cases and pick the
best one.
Features
MAXIMUMPC 04 / 07
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20 Face-Off
T
he terribly confusing and consumer-unfriendly
state of upgrading to Windows Vista is proof that
Microsoft has serious communication problems. The
upgrade SKUs—the cheap boxes sold at CompUSA
that contain upgrade discs for your existing Windows
install—are a horrifi c mess that will result in returns,
broken systems, and heartache for everyone involved.
The problem began when a committee of geniuses
decided that choosing an OS wasn’t diffi cult enough
and expanded the number of retail versions of
Windows from two to four—with each version offered
in full and upgrade versions. A full version will install
on a new machine, but to install an upgrade version,
you need to have an existing Windows license. Simple
enough, right? Wrong.
You see, you can upgrade certain versions of
Windows XP only to certain versions of Vista. To
further complicate matters, you can’t upgrade the
hardcore, power-user version of Windows XP (XP
Pro) to the analogous version of Windows Vista
(Home Premium) using the upgrade process. In
order to upgrade the Pro version of XP to Vista, you
need to purchase either the Business version, which
omits Media Center functionality, or the ridiculously
overpriced Ultimate Edition. (Who did Microsoft
consult before making this decision? The same people
who write Mac commercials?) Of course, you probably
won’t fi gure out your purchasing mistake until
after you’ve opened the box and the upgrade fails,
rendering your purchase nonrefundable.
Now, if you want to move from XP Pro to Home
Premium you can just back up your data, wipe your
drive, and do a clean install, right? Wrong again. You
see, the brain trust at Microsoft decided that upgrade
versions should be incapable of performing clean
installs—if you boot from the CD. In order to work,
the upgrade process requires that you start from a
working version of Windows. This fundamentally idiotic
requirement will make disaster recovery a two-step
process. Instead of simply checking to ensure that you
own Windows XP during the install process, the Vista
upgrade disc forces you to fi rst install Windows (it can
be XP or a demo version of Vista), then upgrade to
the version of Vista you purchased. It’s a good thing
Microsoft streamlined the Vista install process, isn’t it?
If you buy the wrong version of Vista, you won’t
be able to upgrade XP with it. You’ll have problems
doing a clean install, and you probably won’t be able
to get a refund, either. It makes me wonder if anyone
at Microsoft has ever actually installed and used
Windows before. If they haven’t, why should I?