Why Basic?

"Nate" wrote:

> I wanted to upgrade to Home Premium or Ultimate, I have about $125 thus far
> (I know I have a way to go) and I downloaded Upgrade Adviser, it says that
> the best version for me is Basic. Why? What will happen if I get Premium of
> Ultimate?

Being a full time teacher, I was eligible for the Academic Version of Vista
which turns out to be: Home Premium Upgrade. This was obtained retail for
$68. This is also available to full time students.
(It's the full version, but you must already own a copy of XP or 2000.)

Using the Windows Anytime Upgrade utility, I upgraded to Ultimate for an
additional $159. This makes a total of $227. Significantly less than full
price for Vista Ultimate.

The three trouble spots I encountered:
1. The Control Panel link to Windows Anytime Upgrade did not link to
anything. To get there, I went to the MS website and searched for Windows
Anytime Upgrade and was able to perform the function correctly in this manner.

2. Windows Anytime Upgrade does not provide the User with a new Product Key.
This may worry some that reinstallation after fatal Hard Drive errors may
revert them back to the original version. But, MS assures us that our license
will be maintained forever in the Digital Locker for download providing a
means to upgrade to Ultimate again. Unfortunately, this means you would have
to install the original XP, 2000 or Vista as Home Premium without the Product
Key as Trial Software to get a clean install to work from your original
upgrade disk followed by a second install using the downloaded license.
Pretty cumbersome as I'd rather have to only install once as a recovery
measure. (But, of course, this is my fault for buying the cheaper model.)

3. The license you purchase will not show up in the Digital Locker for four
days after your purchase. So, if things go wrong on the install, you may be
stuck for a few days.

For the slightly savvy:
If you right-click the downloaded license file and open with Notepad, you
can simply scroll to the right a little ways and get your Product Key from
the file. This makes future installations easier.
 >> Stay informed about: Why Basic? 

"Nate" wrote in message

>I wanted to upgrade to Home Premium or Ultimate, I have about $125 thus far
> (I know I have a way to go) and I downloaded Upgrade Adviser, it says that
> the best version for me is Basic. Why? What will happen if I get Premium
> of
> Ultimate?

simply put.... don't.
Besides the cost of the OS itself, you're going to have to factor in all of
the hardware you'll now have to replace.

As a lot of people here (myself included) have discovered, the UA lies.
MS's latest marketing tool routinely tells people their hardware is just
fine, but what it -doesn't- say is that in many cases there simply aren't
any available drivers.
In your case, if the UA is telling you that you're only ready for Basic,
don't even bother.
Vista is only Windows 95 v4.0 anyway.
 >> Stay informed about: Why Basic? 

Just chiming in here, Premium and Ultimate also add the Aero interface.

Art



"Frankster" wrote in message

> This tells me you must have Win XP Home now.
>
> The adviser is advising you to upgrade to the Vista version that most
> closely matches the functionality of your current installation of XP.
> Assuming it meets your needs now. If you have added needs, describe them
> here so you can get more informed advice.
>
> Vista Home Premium (over Home Basic) adds what used to be called Media
> Center (do you need to run your TV from you computer?).
>
> Vista Ultimate (over Home Basic) adds Media Center plus advanced Windows
> Domain Networking (need either of those?).
>
> If you have no new needs, stick with Vista Basic.
>
> -Frank
>
> "Nate" wrote in message
>
>>I wanted to upgrade to Home Premium or Ultimate, I have about $125 thus
>>far
>> (I know I have a way to go) and I downloaded Upgrade Adviser, it says
>> that
>> the best version for me is Basic. Why? What will happen if I get Premium
>> of
>> Ultimate?
>
 >> Stay informed about: Why Basic? 

If your computer is not physically capable of running Home Premium or
Ultimate, the operating system will down grade itself till it is somewhat
like Vista Basic anyway. The choice is yours.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User


"Nate" wrote in message

>I wanted to upgrade to Home Premium or Ultimate, I have about $125 thus far
> (I know I have a way to go) and I downloaded Upgrade Adviser, it says that
> the best version for me is Basic. Why? What will happen if I get Premium
> of
> Ultimate?
 >> Stay informed about: Why Basic?