If you’re one of millions users of XP or Vista planning to upgrade to Windows 7 or want to purchase a new computer this year, you should read this first.

Eligibility of Windows 7 Update Program for New PC

Under the rumored  ‘Windows 7 update program’, users who purchased Windows Vista PC from July 1, 2009 to Jan. 31, 2010 are eligible for free upgrade to Windows 7.  TechArt however stating that this is only applied for Vista Home Premium, Vista Business and Vista Ultimate version and to which version they’re eligible for a free upgrade in Windows 7.

1. Windows Vista® Home Premium -> Windows® 7 Home Premium
2. Windows Vista® Business -> Windows® 7 Professional
3. Windows Vista® Ultimate -> Windows® 7 Ultimate

Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Basic, Windows Vista® Starter Edition and all Windows XP purchased during this period, does not qualified for this program.

Old PC Run on All PC

If you’re already purchased PC run on any Windows OS (all version of XP or Vista) before July 1, 2009, you’re not eligible for this program as well.

Windows XP – Vista upgrade is not possible?

Most Windows users including myself  still run on aging Windows XP. The question now, whether upgrading directly from Windows XP to Windows Vista is possible, technically. While you can anytime purchase Windows 7 for your system when it was released later, apparently it will require extra effort. Why?

Unlike Vista users, No in-place upgrade possible for upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7.  That means, clean install required which will formatting the hard drive and totally replace Windows XP with Windows 7. This could be troublesome if you run on old hardware though.

But, whether the upgrade to Windows 7 is worthy or not,  personally I think its better to wait for a little while, and purchase a new Windows 7 PC instead, rather than spending time on upgrade, unless you have powerful machine.

Situation is different for business when buying totally news PCs is now a wise decision economically. Microsoft warns business if they still prefer upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows XP directly,  stating the software compatibility issue behind it. Read more guide from Vista Team blog.

• If you are running Windows 2000 in your environment: Migrate your Windows 2000 PCs to Windows Vista as soon as possible. Extended support for Windows 2000 ends Q2 2010, and as an commerical customer, you may soon find your business’s critical applications are unsupported.
• If you are in the process of planning or deploying Windows Vista: Continue your Windows Vista SP1 deployment. If you’re really in the early stages or just starting on Windows Vista, plan to test and deploy Windows Vista SP2 (on target to RTM Q2 2009). Moving onto Windows Vista now will allow for an easier transition to Windows 7 in the future due to the high degree of compatibility.
• If you are on Windows XP now and are undecided about which OS to move to: Make sure you taken into consideration the risk of skipping Windows Vista, which I am discussing below. And know that deploying Windows Vista now will make the future transition to Windows 7 easier.
• If you are on Windows XP now and are waiting for Windows 7: Make sure you take into consideration the risks of skipping Windows Vista, and plan on starting an early evaluation of Windows 7 for your company using the beta that’s available now. Testing and remediating applications on Windows Vista will ease your Windows 7 deployment due to the high degree of compatibility.

Certainly, all users run on old Windows operating  system wants to go for newer one, but the question is when.  So, do you plan to upgrade your computer?