Vista Upgrades Require Presence of Old OS

kapaopango writes "Ars Technica is reporting that upgrade versions of Windows Vista Home Basic, Premium, and Starter Edition cannot be installed on a PC unless Windows XP or Windows 2000 is already installed. This is a change from previous versions of Windows, which only required a valid license key. This change has the potential to make disaster recovery very tedious. The article says: 'For its part, Microsoft seems to be confident that the Vista repair process should be sufficient to solve any problems with the OS, since otherwise the only option for disaster recovery in the absence of backups would be to wipe a machine, install XP, and then upgrade to Vista. This will certainly make disaster recovery a more irritating experience.'"

And the problem is?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought Windows Vista was the most stable and secure version of Windows ever! Surely there will be no need for disaster recovery!?

what part of upgrade do you not understand ?

[Anonymous Coward]

upgrade has never meant install from clean hence the price differential

tagged with moran

Screw Upgrading

[Frogbert]

Screw Upgrading, I finally have the hardware to allow my Windows XP install to boot as fast as my Amiga used to.

Re:How long?

[obeythefist]

With the marketshare Microsoft has they can require people to sacrifice their first born (which I'll do before Vista gets on MY systems)

Man, you must want Vista *real* bad. Or you just hate your firstborn?

I love it

[rolyatknarf]

I love Microsoft. I don't care how difficult they make make it for me. I will pay as much as they demand to get Vista. I will do anything they ask. You must all realize that it is not just an operating system - it is GOD. It is the only reason to live. It is more important than air, food and water. Without Microsoft there is simply no meaning to life.

Now just be quiet and send them money.

Well, I'm not the first

[Klowner]

But I think I speak for everyone when I say, boy oh boy, I can barely wait until Tuesday to get my $300-something Windows Vista Ultimate Bill Gates Limited Edition... ...BAHAHAHAhahahahahaahahahahahahahahaahaha

huh?

[macadamia_harold]

Microsoft is crippling Windows and making life harder for their customers? Good. I welcome this change

what do you mean "change"?

Practical joke?

[Raven42rac]

This OS must be some sort of practical joke just to get all of us talking about it. No company that respects its customers... oh wait, nevermind.

Re:And the problem is?

[Andrew Kismet]

I'm sure that the band will play on as Microsoft's Titanic sinks, too.

Microsoft seems to be confident that the Vista rep

[skelator2821]

Microsoft seems to be confident that the Vista repair process should be sufficient to solve any problems with the OS Hahaahahaha I didnt know Format was a Repair Process?

Re:"Backup" Utility

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Who'd want to back that up? :-)

Re:Fuck that!

[cpt kangarooski]

Bill Gates can go attempt asexual reproduction if he thinks I'm going to run through two installs just to get one O/S working.

Attempt? Bill Gates can undergo mitosis at will. Didn't you know that? It's one of the creepier things about him.

Re:Microsoft seems to be confident that the Vista

[wizzahd]

I can see why they're confident: the upgrade from Windows 95 to Windows 98 [microsoft.com] was so easy and problem free!

Re:And the problem is?

[Mad Merlin]

You mean a disaster like having Windows installed on a computer? A good way to solve that disaster starts here [goodbye-microsoft.com].

Re:Are you surprised?

[CompMD]

No thanks, I'm not that into Pokemon. [xkcd.com]

Re:And the problem is?

[Basehart]

Iceberg, Penguin, it's all the same.

Dum-bee badum-bee

[Jesus_666]

You think so? Let me tell you a little story:

I was writing a paper, on Vista. Then suddenly the computer was like "beepbeepbeepbeepbeep" and I was like: "...huh?" And then like, half of my paper was gone. It was a really good paper. And I had to write it again and I had to do it fast so it wasn't as good, which is kind of... a bummer.
My name is Jesus_666 and I'm a student.

Re:Dum-bee badum-bee

[bmo]

"You guys get a lot of spam? Email?

It's unstoppable

I opened one, it's so embarassing. I opened one of those bad ones. It was so weird. I swear I knew it was XXX I swear I did. It said on it...it said on it "Riga Girls Go Like This" and I said "Riga girls go like this? That's the email?" So I clicked on it, and it was like springtime on my screen *poof! poof! poof! poof!* I had like 15 things open and my computer just crashed. I was like "niiiice, nice" curiosity killed my computer. So we wrote this song about that... "

-Steve Tannen

So since Microsoft recommends nuking from orbit as the solution to malware (format and reinstall), this means that all upgrade versions aren't valid after the first wipe? Ahahahahahah.... Go ahead, Microsoft, squeeze your customers. Frustrate them. Madden them. Drive them completely 'round the bend. OS/X and Linux are waiting.

--
BMO

"It's just a little bit of snake oil; tinfoil. It takes so little charm to keep you hangin' on" - The Weepies "Riga Girls"

Re:Microsoft seems to be confident that the Vista

[Mythrix]

Format usually repairs your OS, losing things like your documents, photos and e-mails is just collateral damage.

Re:thank u bill

[rbanffy]

Since so many laws call for "reasonable effort" and use similar wording, can someone call using something like Windows a reasonable effort to stay secure and/or avoid data loss/theft?

Specially since there are some reasonably easy to use alternatives?

Re:Microsoft seems to be confident that the Vista

[Anonymous Coward]

maybe you should check "don't format the partition" instead then?

Re:thank u bill

[Serengeti]

"Is Microsoft just running down a list of crappy things to do that make me dislike Vista even less?"

That is, actually, what they're trying to do. Unfortunately for them, most of their decisions have made you dislike them more.

Re:How does it compare to OS X?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not a real Mac user if you don't buy a new Mac each time.

Re:And the problem is?

[Pxtl]

Heheh, I thought I was the only one with one of those. It was nasty when I realized that (long, long after the original install), since there was no way in hell I was going to find my old win3.1 install disks when I needed to wipe-and-repave it.

On the other hand, it came with a cool hovercar game.