October 20th, Windows 7 is released for shipping and all you Vista users can breathe a sigh of relief. We have been running Windows 7 release to manufacturing on a test machine and have been quite happy with the stability, memory usage, and overall quality. This is the OS that Vista was supposed to be.
So what does all this mean?
Vista Users: If you have vista, your machine can run Windows 7. Seven uses less memory, and is generally better designed than Vista. It is well worth the upgrade for anyone with Vista.
XP users: The case for upgrading isn't as cut as dry. Many older machines wont see any benefit from upgrading, and might see a little slow down, as requirements are slightly higher for 7. But users with computers from the last few years will find a windows 7 upgrade worth while. As a rule of thumb, anyone with a dual/quad core processor will find upgrading worth while. Users using old systems with a Pentium 4 or Celeron will probably want to wait until their next hardware purchase to get Windows 7.
Ok, I want Windows 7. Which version?
According to Microsoft there are 7 versions of Windows 7. 3 versions don't apply to the US domestic market, and 1 is for netbooks only (preloaded only)
This leaves the three versions left to consider:
HOME PREMIUM: Long story short, this is what most home users will want. It is only missing a few features for business purposes described below.
PROFESSIONAL: Do you need to join a domain? Does your office have a server? less obvious is "XP emulation mode" which PRO and Ultimate have. This is to guarantee old software compatibility by running the code in an emulated windows XP environment. If it worked in XP, it will work with Professional.
ULTIMATE: Mostly just bells and whistles. However I would recommend for anyone who has to comply with data security regulations. Financial and Medical companies would actually benefit from the Bitlocker whole disk encryption, as they would be forced to buy expensive 3rd party software to do the same thing.
