A Facebook friend recently posed this question:<\/p>\n
Need advice: Is it worth the $200 and the pain in rear to switch from Vista to 7 when you have dial up? Comments please.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThere were 12 comments, which is on the high side for Facebook. That meant, obviously, that quite a few people had an opinion to cough up.<\/p>\nMy reply was short and to the point:<\/p>\n
No.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
First, you don’t need to upgrade unless the new upgrade addresses problems or issues you’re having or the new upgrade offers features you need, or both.<\/p>\n
Windows 7 does address many of the problems with Vista. Windows 7 is better. It still has issues, but I can tell you that after using Win7 for a few months now, I prefer it. I’m actually disappointed when I’m on a Vista machine and it doesn’t have some of the features that 7 offers.<\/p>\n
Second, the price is just obscene for the upgrade: $200? Is that what Microsoft itself is asking? The full retail price? And is that for the Ultimate upgrade?<\/p>\n
The Windows Home Premium upgrade was around $100 last time I checked. I think it was something like $79 or thereabouts at CostCo.<\/p>\n
But $200? Heck, just a few dollars more and you can get a new netbook running the absolutely easy and safe Windows XP operating system.<\/p>\n
There was also some misinformation in the Facebook comments. On person wrote:<\/p>\n
The biggest problem is that you have to wipe out everything on your hard drive and start over, for not too great a gain. Mac is still better!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I agree that the Mac is more stable, and a better choice for most people. Specifically, the Mac is a good choice when you don’t play computer games. (Ha-ha! The PC is still the best gaming platform.)<\/p>\n
The other assertion, that you have to “wipe out everything on your hard drive and start over” just isn’t true.<\/p>\n
The Windows 7 upgrade is very smooth. It didn’t erase anything on my hard drive, and it effectively passed through all my data, settings, software, and you-name-it. The process was painless.<\/p>\n
Perhaps that commenter was referring to previous Windows upgrades, where the recommended procedure for a smooth operation was to zap the hard drive and then start over. Who knows?<\/p>\n