no one knows for sure, and it's not clear yet what vista owners, if any, will qualify for free upgrade to 7 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2341007,00.asp
Forget windows 7, it will just be a dolled up next level horror story of VISTA. Who in their right mind would even want a touch screen for a desktop? Can you imagine all the coffee that will be spolled reaching for the screen? How about some trader getting out of a losing trade smashing his fist into the screen just as the trade turns around after he bails out. Windows needs to decide if it a toy for kids or a business operating ststem. I mean come on look at the situation, VISTA had flaws and still has flaws. What will Windows 7 do that XP PRO can not do? Many have said windows 7 should merely be an update to VISTA, but DUH!!!! ..........there is no making money in upgrades or srevice packs.
Vista is stable and has no problems on new computers. It was not compatible with old hardware. It does NOT make any sense to go back in technology. Sooner than later new software and hardware would not be compatible with XP. Furthermore, Vista is also more secure than XP.
g8r said................It does NOT make any sense to go back in technology. Well that is true, but please explain to me where Vista is advanced technology over XP PRO. Fluff, bloat and peddeling your own brand becomes very nauseous and that is what reached my limit with VISTA and i yanked it out and tossed the Cd in trash after a short spin as a coffee coaster. Fluff is hardly advanced technology in my book. I will fully admit i did get Vista to work just fine EXCEPT as another poster said about graphics cards. When i went to a third dual monitor card Vista crapped out. That was a new box with all new goodies. Since it was order entry only box combined with X-Study charts i decided VISTA was not up to the task. I reinstalled a fresh OEM xp pro disk and installed 3 dual head cards and bingo............no problems. Security is not a problem for me because i knoiw what to do on a computer and what not to do. Security is more a problem of users being idiots and or fools more than a security risk outright. I have ZERO AV, etc running on my boxes, that crap is more a drag than a help. Sure some clowns will say i am wrong, but ask me if i care what they say. hahaha Vista is for kids and their toys, Vista is NOT for real time live traders.
just spent 1k on a hp intel quad 4 processor 64 bit processor with 6 gig of ram and 650 gig raid drive. installed 2 dual nividia cards and vista's crashed 5 times. i'm sending it back this week and getting a dell with windows xp pro.
Personally, I'm sticking with XP. But perhaps the best solution is to get a computer which offers both... like the Dell Precision line. That way one could run XP now and Vista later, if desired. XP will be in extended support at least until 2014, and one could likely continue to use it for a couple of years past that (some are still using W2K).
Downgrading my workstation to 32-bit XP Pro was the best thing that I did. When I turned it on new out of the box it was cool to play around with Vista - having never seen it before... but the PC is much faster and more reliable now with XP pro x86 even limited to 3.2gb RAM.