I've done it but had to do a clean install as I wanted to upgrade from Vista 32 Bit to W7 64 bit. All went pretty smoothly but was made a lot easier by having an external hard-disk to backup to. W7 does seem to be smoother and faster, although I have had a couple of hangs.
Biggest faff was hunting around for a couple of drivers as my old ones wouldn't work on a 64 bit system.
As for a cheap version, the only thing I can think of is the student software company, £57, but you need to be able to prove you have a kid at school or Uni, so you may need to use a friend or relatives kid.
Microsoft were doing a student upgrade - you could get Home Premium or Professional for £30, but you need an @ac.uk email address (which fortunately the missus gets cos she's on the OU). Not sure if the offer is still running though.
I flog business intelligence software, business to business.
We've recently issued a new release which, amongst other things, make it Windows 7 compatible.
Talking to existing business users, I find most of them are still using XP, most never bothered with Vista, but many are ready to take on Windows 7 as they perceive it far more user friendly and trouble free than Vista.
Vista was one platform that really bombed for Microsoft.
Made the mistake of doing a dual boot, with a fresh install on my second partition - but my manufacturer won't release all the software so to keep old my old stuff I need to restore the original machine to factory and do an upgrade - not the end of the world and not the fault of 7.
Few niggly driver issues sorted farily quickly.
Generally shows vista up for the piece of sh*t it is.
Good old Microsoft doing educational packages. (I'm a University worker)
I got Office Pro for £10 a couple of months back and XP pro for about he same. Windows 7 is available to me as well but I wont bother with it until I'm forced to.
Comments
Biggest faff was hunting around for a couple of drivers as my old ones wouldn't work on a 64 bit system.
Any comments other than "get a Mac"????
http://www.software4students.co.uk/Microsoft_Windows_7_Ultimate_32_bit_Edition_Upgrade-details.aspx
We've recently issued a new release which, amongst other things, make it Windows 7 compatible.
Talking to existing business users, I find most of them are still using XP, most never bothered with Vista, but many are ready to take on Windows 7 as they perceive it far more user friendly and trouble free than Vista.
Vista was one platform that really bombed for Microsoft.
faster booting and less hangs so far.
Made the mistake of doing a dual boot, with a fresh install on my second partition - but my manufacturer won't release all the software so to keep old my old stuff I need to restore the original machine to factory and do an upgrade - not the end of the world and not the fault of 7.
Few niggly driver issues sorted farily quickly.
Generally shows vista up for the piece of sh*t it is.
Have a free version coming for my son's PC as we bought it in September. Will try that first as he has little stored on it yet.
I got Office Pro for £10 a couple of months back and XP pro for about he same. Windows 7 is available to me as well but I wont bother with it until I'm forced to.