Windows Vista: The ‘Huh?’ starts now

Computerworld technology writer and former editor of Windows Magazine Mike Elgin, writes about the mess that is the Windows Vista upgrade, in Windows Vista: The ‘Huh?’ starts now.  There are no fewer than 10 versions of Windows Vista. Need I say more?

Here are the versions:

1. Windows Vista Starter Edition
2. Windows Vista Home Basic
3. Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade
4. Windows Vista Home Premium
5. Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade
6. Windows Vista Business
7. Windows Vista Business Upgrade
8. Windows Vista Ultimate
9. Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade
10. Windows Vista Enterprise Edition

Faced with this list, consumers are scratching their heads and asking: Which one should I buy? What’s the difference? Why should I bother?

Microsoft is losing consumer operating system market share to Apple for many reasons, but most of those reasons can be oversimplified thus: Mac OS is simple, and Windows is complicated.

That’s why it may be such a costly error for Microsoft to make the Vista upgrade such a confusing mess.

Don’t feel bad if you still don’t know which of the Upgrade proof policies above is the real one — few outside Microsoft do. (In fact, none of them is correct.)

Microsoft created this confusion by failing to tell anyone what the proof requirement would be for using an Upgrade version of Vista.

Meanwhile, the Upgrade versions are poison:

• Windows power users know that if you want Windows to work well over the long haul, it helps to reformat and perform a clean install once in a while. The Upgrade version requires you to install both XP/2000 and Vista every time, doubling the already massive amount of time it takes to do a reformat/reinstall.

• The Upgrade versions require you to keep track of your original Windows XP/2000 disks. Most people have these in the form of “recovery CDs” from the PC vendor, which can include multiple disks full of junk applications.