Buyers Remorse Remedy
Some of you may have been lucky enough to have purchased a new machine running Microsoft Windows 7, if so, congratulations on your new purchase! Hopefully you are enjoying the Windows experience that many hard laboring developers, testers, and professionals have worked so hard to bring you. No one understands how difficult of a task it is to purchase a new computer, until they’re put in the position to do so, and with many people converting to Windows 7 from Windows XP, many people are simply opting to purchase a new computer opposed to upgrading their existing computer systems.
In this post, I will cover some of the common questions and misconceptions that get brought up after the purchase of a new machine, such as:
- With the different versions of Microsoft Windows 7 available, did I purchase the right computer?Â
- I narrowed my selection of computers down for just the ones that carried the ‘Windows 7 Ultimate’ edition pre-installed because I thought that it would have everything I needed, was that smart?Â
- My friend has Windows 7, and they can do things on their computer that I can’t, and as a business user, I could really benefit from those features.
- I just purchased a new computer with Windows 7 Starter Edition, but I don’t see that on the store shelves next to other Windows 7 offerings, is Windows 7 Starter Edition even a real offering?
Ask the Guru
The good news is that Microsoft expected confusion in the area of purchasing new computer systems, so they designed a Windows Guru program to help confused, mis-informed, and uneducated consumers make the right choice during time of purchase. Some retail chains such as Best Buy have already been using this program. If you look for them, they will typically be wearing a black shirt with the words Windows Guru written on them. So other than posting a question here, or contacting me directly, you can also ask anyone in the computer section of your favorite nearby retail outlet if they have enrolled in the Windows Guru program. . The bad news however is that this program is limited and offered only by specific vendors from Microsoft, so many retail outlets may not have enrolled or even knew about this program!
More flavors than Baskin-Robbins
All in all, Microsoft has six different editions of Windows 7, four of which pertain to our current conversation. They are, in order from least amount of features to fully featured:
- Windows 7 Starter Edition
- Windows 7 Home Premium
- Windows 7 Professional
- Windows 7 Ultimate
In a later post, I promise to explain the significant differences between these editions, but for now I would like to talk about what this means to you for you and your purchasing decisions. Most netbooks, small lightweight underpowered notebook computers built for extreme mobility, have no powerful components to them when it comes to pure processing power. Microsoft and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers – such as Dell, HP, Acer, etc.) vendors both agreed that they did not see a reason to put an operating system with an incredible feature set on a piece of hardware that was underpowered and built strictly for mobility. Microsoft answered the needs of netbook vendors by creating Windows 7 Starter Edition. It is the only version in this topic of conversation that cannot be purchased separately, and must come pre-loaded on a newly purchased Windows 7 netbook, or comparable computer system. Windows 7 Home Premium will predominantly be the most widely factory installed operating system that you will see out in a retail location, as it has everything that most home users need in order to do what they want with their computer system. For business users, Microsoft recommends Windows 7 Professional as it carries the benefits of its Home Premium counterpart, in addition to some nice extras that frankly business professionals need. Finally, for the computer enthusiast who has to have it all, there is the Windows 7 Ultimate offering which builds upon what you get from Windows 7 Professional. As its name implies, it has everything that you can expect to get from Windows 7, from the consumer and retail prospective that is. There are other editions, two to be exact, which frankly are outside the realm of this conversation.
Remedy: Windows Anytime Upgrade
So now that you have been briefly introduced to the Windows 7 editions, which one is the right one to purchase? Well…I would actually suggest on buying the best piece of hardware you can get versus looking at the version of Windows it carries for one glorious reason: Windows Anytime Upgrade. Windows Anytime Upgrade is an application that comes in every version of Windows 7. Yes, in every version, and that does include Windows 7 Starter Edition. This wonderful application, as its name implies, allows you to upgrade Windows 7 at anytime to a more suiting version of your needs. How does it work, you may ask? Microsoft can actually download the missing pieces of your current operating environment, take for example Windows 7 Home Premium, that make it unable to run a desired version, like Windows 7 Professional, for substantially less time and money it would have taken you to have a professional do it for you! That means that you should purchase a computer that fits your needs, may that be a solitary upright powerful desktop unit, or an ultra portable notebook computer built for extreme mobility.
Eating my own Dog Food
Something I often like to point out, is that some professionals that write about technology never actually go through the pain that their readers do when actually trying to test out or try something new that they are being recommended to do! I like to call the whole process of putting a professional through their own recommendations as ”eating their own dog food”. It can seem like nothing, but it is a valuable effort that results in more sound trust and belief in the process or product in which you are recommending. All of the recommendations that I make on this site, have been “eaten”, if you will. I test, document and put the solution through its paces before recommending it to anyone.Â
With that said, I can safely say that the Windows Anytime Upgrade technology, introduced originally with Windows Vista, has matured to a very stable and comfortable place in Windows 7. Some of you may have remembered that I am a proud owner of an HP ENVY13 notebook computer system pre-installed with Windows 7, from an earlier post. Well, as it should turn out, my computer came pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium. Even though the computer is great, Windows 7 Home Premium just can’t handle my needs, and lacks some functionality that the Windows 7 Professional flavor brings to the table. I decided to use Windows Anytime Upgrade on my own computer, and have put together a step-by-step screencast bellow that documents how easy the process truly was!
It is important to note that in my demonstration, I am using a retail purchase of the Windows 7 Professional: Anytime Upgrade product. If you are looking for a comparable product in your favorite retail outlet, they will look like one of the following, depending on which version you wish to upgrade to (Shown from Left to Right: Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate).Â
 
With Windows Anytime Upgrade technology built in to Windows 7, you no longer have to worry about buyers remorse when it comes to which version of Windows you are using, yet another compelling reason to run Windows 7!
James Zepp
November 3, 2009
Tags: Business, Consumer, editions, Microsoft, netbook, new computer, retail, Starter, step-by-step, upgrade, walkthrough, WAU, Windows 7, Windows Anytime Upgrade, Windows Guru Posted in: Business, Consumer, Microsoft, Microsoft, Windows 7, Windows 7
Name: James Zepp
Occupation: CTO
Company: Acxsis
Age: 26
2 Responses
A very nice Topic. Thanks alot hope you go for the detail next time!
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
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