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In computer news this week 10/28/2009

The problem Microsoft has launching Windows 7 -

The usual corporate trick of putting lipstick on the pig won’t work, because in this case the pig should be free, and they need a better pig.

Windows XP was introduced in Oct 2001 and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2007, when Windows Vista was introduced.

Despite massive Microsoft advertising campaigns – Vista has gained only an 18% market share today – almost 3 years later.

So now Microsoft releases Windows 7, a new supposedly well tested operating system – just like Vista was – and they’re expecting us to upgrade ?

Right now I’m running 2 Dell Pentium cpus with Windows XP; everything is working; I’m running Microsoft office 2003 and dozens of other programs, and I’m very happy

It’s not just that the upgrade cost is high – I have 2 XP computers each about 4 years old, so I’d be looking at at least $ 120.00 per computer just for the upgrade license to Windows 7.

And if that wasn’t reason enough for me not to just keep on using my current pc’s, I did download the free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Utility program which gave me even more reasons not to upgrade to Windows 7

I apologize if this sounds like Letterman’s top 10 list, but .... :

#10. My most powerful XP computer only has 1 Gig of ram and doesn’t meet the 2 Gig requirement for 32 bit Windows 7.

#9. My other XP computer only has 512 Megs of ram so I’d have to upgrade that too.

#8. I don’t have the free hard disk space required – 15 Gigs – on my most powerful XP computer.

#7. It says my Microsoft Lifecam won’t work with windows 7, and note this is a Microsoft product.

#6. I have several other devices and programs that will require updates, which this advisor says “are available”

#5. Windows 7 doesn’t support Outlook Express, which is used here by someone.

#4. My most powerful XP computer graphics adapter doesn’t support the new Windows Aero user interface.

#3. My other less powerful XP computer doesn’t support it either.

#2. The Upgrade Advisor tells me that Dell computer has a website that “might give you more information about getting Windows 7 running on your pc”. I don’t like the sound of this.

#1. A custom installation is required, meaning I would have to first back everything up and try to find the master disks and cd’s to all the programs I’m running – then after that I’d have to reinstall not just my data – but all my programs too.

This means that Windows 7 installation is not just a simple upgrade – like it used to be with Microsoft operating systems – where they would caution you to backup, but then go ahead and install a totally new o/s and in most cases everything would work fine.

Before you call me a technophobe troglodyte - Please note that I am going to be upgrading to Windows 7 on another computer of mine, and that’s my newer powerful Dell computer with the new Intel Core2 Quad Processor – and the reason I’m upgrading to Windows 7 is simple – it’s running Vista right now.