David Flynn06 May 2009, 8:00 AM
Users of XP will quality for a free or low-cost upgrade to Windows 7, but they won’t be able to install 7 without first nuking XP from their hard drive.
Earlier this week we reported on how the just-released Windows 7 Release Candidate will permit upgrades only from Windows Vista rather than any previous beta build of the OS-in-progress (although Microsoft was kind enough to share
a clever work-around).
The final version of Windows 7 will adopt the same protocol: you either upgrade from Vista or do a clean install. Yet Microsoft is making one concession for XP loyalists: they’ll be eligible for a special upgrade price on Windows 7.
That price remains under wraps, as does the pricing for all Windows 7 SKUs, but it’s an unusual move because OS upgrade deals are usually restricted to the immediate previous version.
In this case that’s the much-criticised Windows Vista, which many users chose to avoid and stick with XP – hence Microsoft’s need to cast the upgrade net a little wider.
The catch is that XP users will need to save their data, wipe their hard drive and load XP as a clean install – so technically this isn’t really a ‘upgrade’ in the traditional sense, even though Microsoft is calling its XP incentive an ‘upgrade licence’. But it’ll be cheaper than buying Windows 7 off the shelf.
Of course, a clean install is always the preferred option over an OS-to-OS upgrade, and this is one of the reasons Microsoft cites for leaving XP off the upgrade path.
“The ‘upgrade’ from XP would not be an experience we think would yield the best results” according to a post of Microsoft’s
Engineering Windows 7 blog. “There are simply too many changes in how PCs have been configured (applets, hardware support, driver model, etc.) that having all of that support carry forth to Windows 7 would not be nearly as high quality as a clean install.”
“We do provide support for moving files and settings and will prompt at setup time, but applications will need to be reinstalled. We know that for a set of customers this trade-off seems less than perfect, but we think the upfront time is well worth it.”
Microsoft will also be offering free or discounted Windows 7 upgrades to buyers of selected new PCs between June 2009 and January 2010 as part of its Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program. This includes not only PCs running Vista but those which have been ‘downgraded’ to XP – because they were still sold carrying a Vista licence.
As with similar programs run in the lead-up to the release of Vista and XP before it, “the main goal of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program is to stop PC sales from stalling prior to the Windows 7 launch by provide users a free or low-cost path to upgrade their eligible Windows Vista PCs to Windows 7” states the marketing material issued to OEMs.
Not all Vista PCs are eligible, however: only systems running (or sold with a licence for) Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate. These will qualify for an upgrade to their equivalent Windows 7 versions of Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate.
While the documentation lists the eligibility period as running from June 26, 2009 to January 31, 2010, it notes these dates are “open to change and depend on the actual release to market date of Windows 7”.
“Windows Vista PCs pre-installed with qualifying software must be purchased by end users between these dates” although there’s also an allowance that “OEMs may choose to offer a shorter program period within the allowed date range.”
In an associated FAQ, Microsoft confirms that “a Windows XP Downgrade System will be eligible for the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program. Technically the upgrade option in the setup will be disabled but the user is able to do a clean install.”