WHY................

...should I 'upgrade' to Windows 7? I have a perfectly good laptop and a Desktop PC which both run XP Pro and all my Applications, but according to the compatibility test, neither is capable of running Windows 7. So, I would have to buy newer models, just to 'keep up to date'.

No Thanks - I'll stick with XP which works fine and I'm sure there are many more like me..............

Browser Ballot Screen?

Installed Win 7 last night. There was no Browser ballot screen it just installed Internet Explorer and I had to download Firefox and delete all the IE shortcuts myself.

What happened to the European ruling? Did Microsoft just ignore it in the end?

I'll have a slight problem upgrading to Win7

as my home PC is running Ubuntu. Happily, I have upgraded to the latest pre-release version of Ubuntu, and it is great. Not perfect (no software is), but the Ubuntu guys have done a good job.

From what I can tell, Microsoft have created a decent OS with Win7 -- improved and streamlined the features offered in Vista, just like they did with Win2000 to XP. Time will tell how it does.

Things are looking interesting with Snow Leopard and other OSes (the BSD's, OpenSolaris, Android, Moblin and more). Consumer choice and competition is a good thing.

"XP mode ... Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions"

"to use XP mode you need at least the Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions"

I'm glad someone's been reading the small print.

FFS how difficult would it have been to say that in the article, especially in one that has SKUs in the subtitle?

Or is that requirement just MS BS, and it actually is available in the cheaper ones too, so long as you don't mind it being disabled at some point in the future by some Windows Genuine Advantage equivalent (disabling which would be perfectly legitimate on those systems which aren't licenced for it)?

I'll bet that...

... the same people holding onto XP are the same people who initially refused to upgrade to XP from 98 stating the same old reasons again and again.

And you couldn't pay me to use Linux. I happily forked over £65 for 7.

@Martin Glenn -I exaggerated slightly.

We knew. You shouldn't be smoking around your computer.

Not buying Windows 7 Ultimate and MS Office 2007

I am going to install OpenSolaris and take a weeks holiday instead.

Upgrade from Vista a complete disaster

Those with XP should be thankful that there is no option to upgrade to 7 directly. As one of those caught out by the 62% bug in the upgrade from Vista I can tell you that you don't want the hassle.

One of my machines I will probably just go for a completely clean install (especially since it will also allow me to go 64 bit as well). The other one has too much complex hardware and software installed on it (Cubase 5, Waves plugins and a MOTU 828) to go through the hassle of reinstalling everything from scratch. It is of course this machine that hangs at 62%!

Dave

@tempemeaty

tempemeaty, mate... So that old article says "Microsoft will get your "Internet protocol address, the type of operating system, browser and name and version of the software you are using, and the language code of the device where you installed the software." Oh dear. Nasty, evil, horrid Microsoft!

If you don't like the sound of that data being collected by anyone, then please, WTF are you doing using the Internet? What information do you think that your user agent, yes, *your user-agent* sends to, for example, every web site you visit? Oh yeah... Kinda the same as the info stated in that article. Oh dear! Nasty, evil, horrid user-agents!

Of course, your IP address is transmitted with *every* request you make whether you want it to or not... It happens to be how things work. Oh dear. Nasty, evil horrid Internet! Down with the Internet. The Internet is evil. OMG! FMWN?! (If you are in the UK, then I would suggest that our very own governments' snooping databases should be of a more immediate concern).

Personally, why waste your time posting such dross when you could quite happily make good use of such time taking the piss out of the 'Twatter Twats' happily 'Twatting' their life away (or some other such social-networking related bullshit) ;)