Opinion: Your XP-to-Windows 7 upgrade path: Buy a new PC

“Microsoft’s leaders really, really want you to forget about
Vista and move right on to Windows 7. And who can blame them? Vista
was a train wreck. No one who knows what they’re doing runs Vista,
not even the Microsoft faithful. Windows 7, on the other hand, is a
worthwhile desktop operating system. There’s only one little
problem. There’s no good way to get from XP to 7.

“Actually, that’s not a small problem at all. According to Net
Applications’ Market Share report, in August 2009, 71.7% of all
desktops were running XP, compared to a mere 18.8% running Vista.
So, that means the great majority of Windows users will have to try
to migrate from XP to 7.

“I use the word “migrate” deliberately instead of “update” or
“upgrade” because this will be a migration. If you are among the
small minority using Vista, you can upgrade to 7 without any fuss
or muss, so long as the move is between equivalent versions, like
Vista Home Premium and Windows 7 Home Premium, or you’re jumping
up, to Windows 7 Ultimate, for example.”

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