QOTD: Is Win7 Anytime Upgrade a Good Idea?

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F*ck MS and their swiss cheese OS, they need to take a lesson from Apple. I don't have aMac right now but Apple has two versions of their OS, Home and Server. Apple is selling it's Home edition of the upcoming Snow Leopard for $29 if you have Leopard, simple.
 
Here is my answer
No it is not a good idea!

One of the reasons (the only actually) for me buying a new PC.
Is that the GDI graphics manager will have real multi tasking/threading!
When dealing with multiple applications that take advantage of the graphic card, the graphic card in Win Vista is still switching context.
Which takes long and is a very bad thing (switching times: from unnoticeable to a few dozens of seconds (minutes?) in the old days)!

The reason not to upgrade is for system requirements,
windows 7 will have DirectX 11 at the core,
which is neat and very useful, a worthwhile improvement to DirectX 10.
The catch is that you need a DirectX11 compatible card to take fully advantage of the architecture.
Upgrading to Win 7 is not so good if you still own a DirectX9 compatible graphic card or even DirectX10 because of the architecture.


I'm not talking about raw performance, just architecture, a dedicated processing circuit ASIC can solve stuff hundreds of times faster than a general digital processor counterpart.
 
Who still buys boxed software? Almost everything is available via digital distribution. Sure there are some exceptions and situations where buying a box would be handy, but I doubt anyone running dial up should want the aero interface.

I'm sure they did the research and concluded that they'll sell enough boxes to justify the cost of shipping them out. How many retailers will reach the same conclusion is another story.
 
lowguppy:

To get a credit card here (in the netherlands and many other EU country's) you need to have a minimum income of 1440 euro a month and a good credit history.
The 1440 euro is not a set rule so you could most likely duck it if your credit history is very positive
Though the average income is exactly 1440 euro and thus for a lot of people specially young people (18-30) its not that easy to get a credit card aprovement.

This is the catch to selling things like updates on-line:

They should offer several ways to pay for the goods so no one will be left behind.
Up till now Ideal (dutch e-banking system) has proven to be a good system though international no one offers to pay using Ideal (or worse they dotn even allow IBAN bank transfers any more for some reason).
 
It's a great business decision, despite people not being partial to getting all the features the OS is offering.

Home Premium will be plenty enough for most users, though. After using both Ultimate and Home Premium on Vista, I noticed virtually no difference in the experience. I don't doubt for a second that it will be the same case for most users and Windows 7.
 
I am sick of Microsoft's Versions first of all windows 7 should be 64bit only. For the most part you shouldn't need to put windows 7 on any computer that doesn't support it (64bit), your current operating system should still do everything you need it to do. Second they had it right in XP a home and professional version. I used vista premium for a year until I got sick of the features I was missing when using the business addition. As far as the example of just browsing the internet, sure they should create a version for that but don't even call it windows 7 if it doesn't have the features that you have come to expect after having used the beta. Create a new branch called windows basic and develop it specifically for that type of users. (Typically you could give them Linux and they wouldn't know just say its extra virus protection)

Creating anytime upgrade is like *beware exaggeration* (buying a car and then saying oh we didn't know you might want your windows to roll down! you can pay us more for that now). Or in the example of backup and restore features well sorry you got in a crash and your data is gone but you can upgrade to backup data now. I'm not hating on Microsoft I'm just saying you have already made the software and its already even on the DVD they sell you it’s a sick joke to have it all at your finger tips and yet you need to pull out the credit card every time you find out something else it won’t do. It’s that type of a thing that will drive me away from Microsoft.
 
The anytime upgrade is an interesting idea, but, they would probably make more money if they just offered Windows at lower price points so in buying them you don't feel ripped off. If only they had a quarter for every time someone will download windows_7_ultimate_preactivated.iso, now that would be some real money.

That would probably be a better marketing experiment, offer Windows 7 basic as download only for 5 dollars, then sell anytime upgrades for 50 dollars a tier.
 
[citation][nom]brad327[/nom]I've heard a lot of people say it's terrible that MS is offering "crippled version" of Windows. If you're just doing email and Facebook, you have the option to buy a $30 CPU. Would you then complain that your CPU isn't on par with a Core i7?[/citation]

I do agree with your points, but that's not exactly the complaint. It would be more on the lines of buying an i7 for $30, but having it clocked down to the $30 CPU speed. That's what the complaint is based on. (I'm not referring to CPU yields here, just keeping the original anaolgy intact)

I can see both sides of the arguement but whatever. The cliche stands. If you don't agree with the product, don't buy it.
 
Anyone who builds a computer from scratch so they can avoid Vista is a complete Moron. Vista is
by far better than XP. It doesn't crash near as ofter, it's easier to get tasks done and it has more
options than Xp. So all you Vista doubters need to wake up and smell the coffee, stop believeing
what reviewers say and get out and try the product. If you tried Vista you would never in a million
years go back to XP.
 
the anytime upgrade is evil.... god forbid you get a virus and need to reformat ( i know this from a vista experience) you cannot reactivate your upgrade...only the previous version before upgrade.... the anytime upgrade installs the key as a module that locks after it is activated...it is not something you can just put a key in or activate over the phone.... and starter editions are a joke, if you dont have the minimum hardware, stick with the os you had....plain and simple... the cost of a new computer that meets minimum requirements and has the os installed is cheap enough these days, cheaper yet if you build it yourself
 
This is a little suspicious. Obviously, those of us that build our own PC will just buy the version we want. This seems targeted at the computer illiterates that buy PCs from OEMs, like Dell, or stores like Best Buy.

It is the PCs sold in stores that concern me. If the PC comes preloaded with Win 7SE, you would have to buy the upgrade to get the version you want. So, HP, Sony, Gateway, and Dell will likely preload the PCs with the cheap OEM version of Win 7SE, and then MS can charge you to get the version you really want.

Anyone else see this?
 
[citation][nom]hakesterman[/nom]Anyone who builds a computer from scratch so they can avoid Vista is a complete Moron. Vista isby far better than XP.[/citation]Better security? Sure. The 40+ vista machines I give technical support does prove that, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A GOOD ANTIVIRUS! Apart from that.. XP is way better. But hey, you CAN have a good antivirus on XP also!! 😛

Oh, Vista doesn't crash as much as XP.. True, but can you use EVERY SINGLE software released to date on Vista? Ok, 8bit and 16bit versions are out of the question, of course. Some games don't even install on Vista (Try PristonTale if you doubt me). Most of the programs that require direct hardware access can't really work on Vista properly (don't even start with API's - they do work, but not to the extend I need).

And Vista does give the user a better experience? Yes, it does.. But have you ever tried to create a small network on vista? Have you ever had an issue with vista that it simply crashed and you lost all your user folder (2 of the machines just hang and when restarting the checkdisk popped up and after that the user folder was completely wiped out clean - no, free undelete didn't help at all)?

Have you ever had an issue with Vista where the firewall (even tho you just disabled it) would block ALL THE OUTGOING TRAFFIC? No?

Than you did not play with Vista and you can't really vow for Vista.

7 does have some of the networking problems of Vista, but when you want it does exactly what you tell it to do such as sharing folders without permissions so everyone on the network can read the folder, not only to those that have accounts on the PC that has the shared folder (there are workarounds, of course).

Still, 2 versions only for 7 would be enough. Ok, 3, I can change my mind also, can't I? Basic (netbooks, smaller hardware), Full (minimum required hardware in place) and Business (without useless features such as games, tablet stuff, etc.).. done. All 3 versions.. But 5 versions? 10 if you add the x86/x64 flavors.
 
I am sick of Microsoft's Versions first of all windows 7 should be 64bit only. For the most part you shouldn't need to put windows 7 on any computer that doesn't support it (64bit), your current operating system should still do everything you need it to do.
Click to expand...

For normal consumers yes, for corporations no. In big corporations they have really weird programs that you don't see anywhere else (and that is why they are expensive too, because of tailoring...) They need superb backward compability and even 32-bit versions have a hard time to do that... they stick on NT or XP as long as it't possible...
 
I agree in general that it would be best for MS to just sell one version of Windows 7 and just call it "Windows 7". No home, pro, ultimate, premium, business, enterprise, etc....
However, it appears that isn't going to happen. So, given that, I think the ability to purchase an upgrade license online or in a store without haveing to reload the OS is a good idea. This will really benefit those who wish to purchase a cheap PC to use for a business that doesn't come with the business version as an option. The only problem with this new program is if the upgrades cost a rediculous amount like $100 or something.
 
As for the 64-bit discussion. We've been trying since XP to go 64-bit so It's time already. Windows7 should have been 64-bit only. You can't even find a PC with less than 4GB of RAM anymore so 1GB is wasted already if you get the 32-bit version.

No use in complaining now I guess. It's done. They built the 32-bit version so they're darn sure going to sell it. Maybe Windows8 will be 64-bit, or 128, or 256 :)
 
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