Windows 7 Beta: The Upgrade

Microsoft made the first beta of Windows 7 available to Technet and MSDN subscribers Thursday, with the rest of the market having access to it on Friday. The Test Center has taken an initial look at what you can expect during the upgrade process -- with good news and bad news.

Vista needs a complete upgrade to Service Pack 1 before it can even start the upgrade process. If this hasn't already been done, it can take an hour by using a disk, or two hours by downloading the service pack online and then installing.

Microsoft advises that you back up any .mp3 files before you click "Install Now," but once you have done that, and installed all pertinent Vista updates, it's time to get started.

The "look and feel" of the upgrade is much like a Vista installation or upgrade from the presentation of the wizard and dialogue boxes.

The entire upgrade from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate took an hour and 16 minutes -- which could be considered much faster than previous upgrade cycles.

Just like with Vista installations, the Windows 7 upgrade includes several reboots -- all of which are somewhat quick.

It's possible to install Windows 7 onto a PC running Windows XP -- by writing over all the data and doing a "clean" installation.

Attempts, however, to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 beta 1 are not allowed. It's not clear whether Microsoft will allow those upgrades upon general availability of Windows 7 later this year.

Once up and running, Windows 7 appears at first blush to be a clean, easy, intuitive operating system with nice application and driver support.