Free Upgrade to Vista Final (Code-named Windows 7) is a Good First Step, but Not Enough

By Zoli Erdos on January 8, 2009

Put the last nail in the Vista coffin. Windows 7 is on the fast track.

– good summary of the Windows situation by Signal to Noise. Yes, Win 7 Beta will be available for download starting tomorrow, and it promises to be less of a resource hog than Vista. Microsoft also talks about providing free upgrades to Windows 7 for Vista users – at least those who buy Vista after July 1st.

Good start, but not enough. The upgrade assurance is vital for both Microsoft and more importantly its OEM partners, the computer manufacturers to avoid a slump in computer purchases while waiting for the next OS.

But let’s not forget what Win 7 really is: it’s Vista Final. As it has been widely discussed, Win 7 does not have a new kernel, it’s all about lots of incremental improvements to Vista. In other words, it’s a Vista that works – using the Microsoft lingo perhaps it should be called Vista SP3.

Make no mistake, the accelerated move to Windows 7 is a marketing decision, not a technical one. Vista became such a disaster that Microsoft finally realized no amount of marketing can save it: it was better the abandon the shipwreck and start with a clean slate, a “new” Windows product.

But that leaves millions of Vista victims behind, who did not want to by this junk, but had no other choice when they bought their computers. I’ve repeatedly said that Windows 7 should:

Be released as Vista Final (meaning it works)
Be provided as a free upgrade to Vista
Come with a letter of apology to all Vista victims

OK, I know … fat chances for the letter of apology. But I am serious about the upgrade: customers who paid for Vista deserve a working (SP3-level) OS. Abandoning those millions would be akin to a hit-and-run on a mass scale.

Update: Finally, I don’t feel alone anymore: Jason Perlow @ ZDNet agrees: Windows 7 Should be a Fixta Free For All:

…since Windows 7 is essentially a performance and usability fix for a
defective product, I’m of the increasing opinion that a Windows 7
upgrade should be free to anyone who was conned into buying Windows
Vista.

Update (1/11/09): Alec Saunders has a similar opinion (emphasis mine)

If you can remember back to the dark ages of the PC industry, in
1990 Microsoft shipped Windows 3.0. A technically ambitious product
for its time, it was the first version of Windows to incorporate
protected mode memory management. Needless to say, it wasn’t perfect.
Not until Windows 3.1 – the “dot” release — shipped in the spring of
1992 were the complaints about 3.0 were finally put to bed. Windows
3.1 introduced some minor user interface changes, but fundamentally it
was the release that fixed the Windows 3.0 problems.

Sound familiar?

Based on what I’ve seen in the last 24 hours, when Windows 7
eventually ships it should put to bed the complaints about Windows
Vista once and for all. Windows 7 is the “dot” release to Windows Vista.

5 responses to “Free Upgrade to Vista Final (Code-named Windows 7) is a Good First Step, but Not Enough”

Aemony January 12, 2009 at 9:33 am | Permalink

Now I don’t say you’re wrong nor that I don’t agree with you (because I do, since a free upgrade is always great), but since SP1 Vista have been as complete as XP was after SP2. I’ve noticed that many people that hate Vista does it for mostly two things: they either loves XP too much or they don’t really have the specs to utilize Vista 100%.

Also, I can imagine that many more complains about Seven will be shown when it’s complete. Many of my friends can’t stand Vista’s interface, since it’s “not XP”. Seven’s interface is even more unlike XP’s than Vista’s.

And Windows 7 isn’t really the “dot” release to Vista, as you said. Sure, taking 3.0 and 3.1 is a good thing, but as you said: “Windows 3.1 introduced some minor user interface changes”. I’m playing around with the Seven Beta right now, and those aren’t some “minor user interfaces changes”. Also, we have Dx11, native multi-touch and a few other improvements.

Well, that said, I just wanted to voice my opinion in the matter. ^^

Btw, nice article, even if it’s never going to happen 😛
HayThar January 15, 2009 at 6:59 pm | Permalink

I totally agree with you on the fact that they should offer Windows 7 as a free upgrade, but I have to disagree with calling it Vista Final. That would be a major mistake.

When people hear the word “Vista” these days, they cringe at the though of it, partly due to Apple’s successful mudslinging campaign that took a harsh view on the OS. If people hear “Vista” at all in the name, they’ll think, “Oh hell no, I’m not putting that shit on my computer.”

However by giving it a new name, calling it the next version of Windows and claiming to leave Vista in the past, they start off with a new slate. When people hear that, they think “So you’re ditching Vista and making a new OS with many new useful features? Hm, maybe I’ll give this a try.”

It’s more of a marketing thing than anything else to call it Windows 7. Even if Vista became the *perfect* OS with SP3, no one would touch it. First impressions are often what sticks, and Apple would be sure to take advantage of that marketing mistake.