Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Microsoft requires Vista rollback before 7 upgrade

This just gets better......

Microsoft is asking Windows 7 beta testers to remove the program and return their computers to Vista, before upgrading to the forthcoming release candidate of the firm’s latest operating system.

The near-ready version of Windows 7 is expected to land next month. However, Microsoft has admitted the path to the RC isn’t going to be easy for anyone who has been testing out the beta of the OS.

In a long-winded blog post, the software giant confessed yesterday that it planned to block upgrades from the beta to the release candidate of Windows 7, although MS has offered a work-around for rebellious types who refuse to go by the rules. “We’ve learned that many of you (millions) are running Windows 7 Beta full time. You’re anxious for a refresh. You’ve installed all your applications. You’ve configured and customised the system. You would love to get the RC and quickly upgrade to it from Beta,” wrote Redmond on the Engineering Windows 7 blog.

“The RC, however, is about getting breadth coverage to validate the product in real-world scenarios. As a result, we want to encourage you to revert to a Vista image and upgrade or to do a clean install, rather than upgrade the existing Beta. We know that means reinstalling, recustomising, reconfiguring, and so on. That is a real pain."

Meanwhile, those stick-in-the-muds who “really, really need to” bypass Microsoft’s request that they revert to Vista first will need to boot from a flash drive or another partition before modifying the build number in the “cversion.ini” file via text editor.

Microsoft also reiterated yesterday that it had "no plans to offer an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7".

I'm sure someone will figure a way around it.

Until then, Windows XP and Linux will be the only OS's I'll install on my computers

Fantastic

Basically MS know that pirates and leakers of the BETA where hoping for the Company to relase the candidate so they can upgrade cracked copies of the beta so it dont time out nice move from microsoft in my honest opinon. Basically install the shit copy you got on your pc then install the RC and there you go Inregards to Windows XP users not being able to upgrade to Windows 7 from XP i think thats a bit harsh from microsoft cause most people are still using Windows XP cause they hate Vista so what is the point in creating an New Windows 7 if you are not allowing people who cant stand your vista shit to upgrade to it basically you have wasted your time again.. I rest my case..

They never do make things simple lee.

Bill gates needs a chat with normal pc users, not big companys

For what its worth, the lack of upgrade to 7 from XP isn't an unpresidented move...

There was no upgrade path from Win95 or earlier to XP, nor from Win98 and Me to Vista. In effect, anyone using the previous-but-one OS would have to buy the retail or OEM version rather than upgrade version.

Although in the case of Vista you can actually do a fresh install from any Vista disc anyway (not something MS like to advertise, as you can pick up the OEM and upgrade versions for much less than retail). So here is hoping that this feature is retained in Win7 (same major kernel version, so don't see why not).

Also, Bill doesn't run MS anymore

pob, it just goes to show how i have not kept up with pc`s lately.
I went to my local pc shop yesterday and asked over the price of a hard drive, `how big` he said, `denno, how much for 80gig?` i said.
The smallest they sell is 400gig

It is surprising what you get for your money now.

I do like and use Vista (well the 64bit version anyway), but I've given up trying to defend it. By now people have made their minds up, are just waiting for Win7 or both.

Saying that, I was impressed that I got XP-SP1 to install on an AMD 4850e X2 with 2GB RAM in about 15 mins the other day.

I have a feeling that Vista is OK as long as you don't run a lot else.
When I was getting a new laptop for work I asked that I got XP because of the other platforms I run. They did that and I have very little trouble. One of my colleagues went with Vista and has had no end of problems on hers.