Windows 7 Upcoming upgrade questions:

[windowsntn]

I have prebought the Win 7 "Upgrade" for 50 bucks that is due out in October.
I have 2 pcs, one XP Pro and one laptop has been reformatted and clean install of win 7 RC.
(love the win 7 btw)
My questions:
#1; will I receive a digital download? Or a disc in the mail? I ordered it thru Amazon and it says it will "ship", so I assume it's to be mailed October 22nd.
#2: The laptop originally came from Dell with Vista mad but I did a clean wipe and install with Win 7. Will I need to reinstall Vista and THEN upgrade it over the Vista?
#3: Is this upgrade only for one pc? I mean, can I install it on my XP desktop? And, if so, can I upgrade over the existing xp pro?

I realize it hasn't been released yet and some of the ?? may not be answerable, but I thought here would be a good place to start.
Thanks for your help,
Mark

 

[spzz162]

From what I have heard the realease expires March 2010 and then it will prompt you to provide your new product key for activation, do you remeber exactly what version you had purchased? Because the beta from Microsoft is classified as the Ultimate version... if your pruchased version is different the activation system might reject the key you obtained. Thus you will have to re-format your system with your copy. Also yes it will be shipped to your address as product keys can not be sold without the installation disk. With the exception of VL's for corporate usage, where the key is e-mailed to them after activating their licence through Microsoft.

 

[busydog]

1) Don't know how you are going to get Win 7
2) You can install the upgrade as a clean install providing you can find the Vista disk
3) This is for one PC
4) You cannot upgrade from XP to Win7. You will have to upgrade from XP to Vista and then fromVista to Win7.

 

[windowsntn]

1) Don't know how you are going to get Win 7
2) You can install the upgrade as a clean install providing you can find the Vista disk. Got that.
3) This is for one PC. errr, ok
4) You cannot upgrade from XP to Win7. You will have to upgrade from XP to Vista and then fromVista to Win7.
Got that. If it's only for one pc then it wouldn't matter anyways.

Ok, what is the word on the street about Win 7 and netbooks? I am looking at getting a netbook, but would like to have Win7 on it, if that will be doable.
Thanks!

 

[bobkn]

I have prebought the Win 7 "Upgrade" for 50 bucks that is due out in October.
I have 2 pcs, one XP Pro and one laptop has been reformatted and clean install of win 7 RC.
(love the win 7 btw)
My questions:
#1; will I receive a digital download? Or a disc in the mail? I ordered it thru Amazon and it says it will "ship", so I assume it's to be mailed October 22nd.
#2: The laptop originally came from Dell with Vista mad but I did a clean wipe and install with Win 7. Will I need to reinstall Vista and THEN upgrade it over the Vista?
#3: Is this upgrade only for one pc? I mean, can I install it on my XP desktop? And, if so, can I upgrade over the existing xp pro?

I realize it hasn't been released yet and some of the ?? may not be answerable, but I thought here would be a good place to start.
Thanks for your help,
Mark

1) I assume that it'll be the retail package.

2) I'm not sure. You may be able to install the RTM version from the RC, but it'll have to be a "Custom" (basically, clean) install. One reason is that the RC keys are for the Ultimate version, and you can't do an upgrade-in-place to a lesser version.

3) One license per PC. XP qualifies for the use of an upgrade license, but you're not permitted to do an upgrade-in-place. You can do a custom install, which will require re-installing all of your applications. You could, in principle, upgrade XP to Vista, and then Vista to Win7. However, if you have XP Pro, you'd probably run into version problems. Your Win7 upgrade is Home Premium, so it can only upgrade-in-place Vista Home Premium. I presume that you can't upgrade-in-place XP Pro to Vista Home Premium.

I'm waiting for publication of the usage requirements of the Win7 upgrade license. I'd like to be able to easily install the OS onto a blank hard drive. One blogger has stated that the upgrade must be launched from an *activated* qualifying OS. That'll be a nuisance if true. (The only thing that leads me to believe that it may not be true is that Windows 2000 qualifies for the Win7 upgrade. No Windows Product Activation with Win2k.)