And So the Fun Begins
It was only a matter of time, with Windows 7 now on the shelves and available for sale. Already the complaints have started piling up, but this time fewer seem related to the OS itself than to the upgrade process. Apparently some users either can’t be bothered to read the fine print when buying software, or certain retailers aren’t providing a clear enough description of a product on their websites.
The hullabaloo I’m referring to is a report that “a number of” users have bought the wrong upgrade from either Microsoft or Digital River, and experienced installation failures as a result. The users in question were running 32-bit Windows Vista (whether on 32- or 64-bit hardware isn’t mentioned) and tried running the 64-bit Windows 7 upgrade. This doesn’t work, as Microsoft clearly documents. You can upgrade a 32-bit installation of Vista to 32-bit Windows 7, but you can’t “cross the streams” and use a 64-bit upgrade copy.
Of course, the users are blaming Microsoft. Redmond responded by telling the affected users to get a refund from Digital River and repurchase a 32-bit upgrade copy instead. Whether DR will allow them to do this (its site says it won’t accept refunds on software) is unknown at this time.
On the other hand, XP or 2000 users who waited out the Vista morass are being punished by being required to run a “custom” (AKA “clean”) upgrade in order to get to Windows 7. This means you have to back up everything on your machine, boot the Windows 7 Upgrade process, and let it install a brand new copy of itself…no in-place upgrade from XP is possible.
“If you want to move from Windows Vista 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit, or if you are running Windows XP [emphasis mine], you have to do a “Custom” or clean installation that must be started by booting off the Windows 7 64-bit DVD,” Michael stressed.” That’s going to anger lots of users, myself included. I suspect my next “upgrade” will be to Linux of some variety, rather than to another version of Windows.