..for DX10 and because I can get Ultimate (upgrade) for $64.95- I have an old copy of Win2k kicking around..which I can use for the upgrade so I keep my XP license, right?

Somebody talk me out of it!

I like Vista I've heard the XP-->Vista upgrade path is rocky though ... is dual booting (i.e. full copy of Vista) not an option? (Alternative: use the Win 7 RC that's coming out in a few days until Win 7 comes out, then use Win 7)

I have the Win7 beta on my other system. Dual booting is certainly an option, yes...or I could reinstall all my crap.

Do you think Win7 will hit academic release before September? The main reason I'm thinking about Vista is because I can get a hefty student discount...which I won't be able to get after I graduate in September.

I dunno about W7 coming out by September (I doubt it). MS said it wanted to launch it during its 2010 fiscal year (meaning at the soonest: October. Meaning: not in October.) =/

The reason I mentioned W7 though is that you might end up paying for a W7 license anyways and it's worth it to consider whether you want to buy both a Vista license (upgrade or not) AND a W7 license or just wait a bit and get a W7 license. W7 *won't* have a from-XP upgrade path though.

And also, like I said, I heard doing an XP to Vista upgrade is/was sort of rocky. But I could be wrong about that.

I still like XP better. Vista is okay, but it seems too cluttered and clunky compared to XP. Not to mention its a way bigger resource hog.

You can't just insert the DVD or enter a CD key to use the Vista upgrade. You need to actually install the OS first. If you have XP installed it will invalidate your XP CD key.

At this point you might as well just wait for W7.

Just snag the Win7 RC that'll be out on May 5th (?) and run that till Win7 actually comes out.

Well that sucks. Yeah, I might as well wait for 7..

Just wait for Windows 7. Its best to skip Vista.

so if i get the RC, does this mean now that i've got 7 all set up how i like it, i have to reinstall...again?

If the RC has better drivers than the beta, I may switch my primary system over..

From what I've seen so far, W7 may be the first Windows OS I buy while it's in its first year.

yeah, same here.

although i was too young to buy xp in its first year.

I was also considering the switch, but with Windows 7 possibly being released in the near future I'm inclined to wait it out.

I'm in the process of building myself a desktop, the plan is to just use win7 RC until it's actually released sometime end-Sep/beginning-Oct.

Don't see the point in getting vista when win7 is coming out in 5-6 months and is looking so so much better. (and I'm one of these people that doesn't mind vista too much)

You could probably hack it to allow an upgrade but it won't out of the box... it's not supported.

Speaking of Vista, I have a Vista Ultimate 32 and 64 bit sitting around. I got it from MS as a 'gift' for participating in one of their feedback programs. If anybody wants either, PM me. You'll just have to pay for shipping.

I only got Business for free in a similar promotion.

PM'd

There's nothing wrong with vista. Stop hating

I say wait for W7 since it's just around the corner, and is probably (don't know yet) much better than Vista (which is still great).

I have only come across two major problems with the W7 beta.

1) It blue screens at a random interval anywhere up to 20 minutes after connecting to a VPN.

2) It wont connect to an FTP site and mount it as a path in windows explorer (though this has been confirmed as fixed for the RC).

Considering it's a beta I'm really impressed with it. I've been running it as my main OS since release and had no other issues. My gaming performance is slightly worse than vista (around 5-10%) but that appears to be a driver issue more than the OS as all OS benchmarks are showing an improvement over vista.

Overall I'm very impressed with W7 and am going to get the RC when it's released next week.

but vista is differant.

change is eeeeevviiiiiiilll.

:panic:

:hideincorner:

There used to be a unofficial workaround to use the Vista Upgrade DVD as a FULL install. (No need for XP or it's CDKEY) I don't know if MS fixed this when they started releasing DVD's that included the SP1.

The only downside is you basically have to install Vista twice.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp

Wait for Win7.
Or get the Win7 RC1 beta for free in the coming days.

My time with Vista reminded me of the very first time I used windows after using Macintosh System 7.5 my whole life. Couldn't figure out how to do a ****ing thing, no matter how basic the task. Got pissed, pulled my hair out, walked away and never looked back.

I probably could have spent more time with it, but I had no reason to. Yay XP.

If Windows 7 supposed to be more like XP?

No.

Dude, that's like saying 'man, I know how to use DOS but then they came out with this WINDOWS thing and it sucks cause I don't know how to use it!'

No, it's even less like XP. Suck it up and get on with the times. XP already lost primary update support this month, all you get now is security updates.

Sounds like you didn't actually put any effort into trying things at all. I'm really failing to see how basic tasks are that incredibly difficult with vista

I hate people who say it's "too different".

It's almost exactly the same IMO, seriously, it took me 2 minutes to figure out what they changed, and not even 10 seconds to get used to it.

The only problems I can see that might cause issues with the crowd are the UAC warnings.