While there has been some worrying, the news is in: If you have any version of Windows XP or Windows 2000, you will be able to get a cheaper upgrade version of Windows Vista.
However, some versions will have to perform a clean install, while other can just pop in the new disk and upgrade. The confuzzling chart:
To summarize: If you have Windows 2000 or a 64-bit version of XP, you’ll be installing from scratch. If you have XP Home, you can buy any version of Vista and perform an upgrade. If you have Professional or Tablet, you can only perform an upgrade to Business or Ultimate, otherwise you’ll need to install from scratch. If you have Media Center, you can only perform an upgrade to Premium or Ultimate, otherwise you’ll need to install from scratch.
Got it?
Got a headache?
Here’s the good news: Even if you can’t perform an upgrade, you can still buy and use the upgrade edition, which is usually a lot cheaper. You may need to install Windows from scratch, but, trust me, that isn’t the worst idea in the world.
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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
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