This article was written by Don VanSyckel, the club president, as a part of "The President's Pen". This article appeared in the October 2009 WYSIWYG newsletter.
Windows 7 and Other Upgrades
by Don VanSyckel
Well there's a number of things going on in the world of computing. New versions of software and new hardware. One of the most influential software packages that's due out is Microsoft's Windows 7. SHCC has had Windows 7 demonstrated and the package looks great. It's the first windows version I was actually going to go out and purchase to update my PCs. Usually I just wait until I buy another PC and the new OS comes with it. Well a couple of weeks ago I read some disturbing reports. According to what I read you can not update Windows XP to Windows 7. The reports claimed that you must do an install of Windows 7 right from formatting the disk, through loading Windows 7, and then load all your software programs.
I keep 99% of my data on a disk other than the 'C' drive boot disk so I won't have to do anything with my data. Most people have their data on their 'C' drive and formatting the drive to install Windows 7 will wipe out all their data. Beware!! Of course if you've been paying attention to the President's Pen you have one or more backup of your data and if these backups are current, you're safe even if you goof. If you're filling up your 'C' drive this would be a good time to swap it out since you have to rebuild the PC from the ground up anyway.
With this new development of having to totally rebuild the PC, I'm going to have to wait and read a couple reviews of Windows 7 before I spend any money. If Windows 7 install without problems, I'll go buy it. If Windows 7 hiccups during installs, I'm going to wait and get it on the next PC I buy.
If anyone has any information to the contrary of what I presented above, please send me an email and make sure to include your sources so I can go study up.
On the hardware side, the netbook seems to be a hot item. One of the major features is that it's very light weight and small dimensionally. On the other hand the small size is also a draw back; you can't get much on the screen.
For now I think I'll stay with my laptop. Well it's not actually a laptop, it's a digital camera picture download device. Even though it looks a lot like a laptop, don't mention this to my wife. By buying the download device I saved; I didn't have to buy a second memory card for the camera.
End of Article