Who Should Upgrade to Windows 7 - And Who Shouldn't

've been running Windows 7 in various versions for months--the 32-bit version on my primary laptop and the 64-bit version on my primary desktop. In general, it's worked quite well for me. It's been stable and runs most of my applications and drivers well. And Win7 seems a bit snappier than Windows Vista, although that may not be a saying much. I like the changes in the user interface, particularly the new task bar. And thankfully, User Account Control (UAC) is less intrusive.

Yet, despite all that, I don't think everyone should move to Windows 7 now, and I'm particularly skeptical about typical users upgrading an existing machine. Here are some things to keep in mind.

New consumer PCs will come with Windows 7, so no need to upgrade. With the obvious exception of Apple, almost every vendor of PCs aimed at consumers is switching almost their entire lines to Windows 7 immediately. For all the reasons, I mentioned earlier, I think this is smart--it should just run better than Windows Vista did.

Most enterprises can't and shouldn't move to Windows 7 yet. Even though Windows 7 is very similar to Vista in the way it handles applications and drivers, it's not the same thing. And many, if not most, enterprises still run Windows XP. To move operating systems, an enterprise has to test all the strategic applications and drivers it supports, and that takes time.

One of the issues that kept companies from moving to Vista was that applications weren't all ready. By the time these applications started being ready, Windows 7 was on the horizon. The good news is that Windows 7 runs the vast majority of Windows Vista applications without change, so the move is easier.

Support for Windows XP coming to an end in a few years, and many companies have put off upgrades, so I do expect a corporate refresh to Windows 7. But while there are lots of pilot programs going on, my guess big companies won't be ready to upgrade until the second part of 2010 or early 2011. They just don't move that quickly.

Small businesses have to choose whether they will buy new PCs with Windows 7--and it probably comes down to applications. If you run mostly general applications, then you get the kind of benefits consumers get, so Windows 7 is probably a good choice now. There are changes in the user interface, and that will take some time for some users to get used to, but in general, it should work well. But if you have custom or specialized applications, you have some of the issues enterprises have. Don't move unless you know that your applications work. Again, most applications should run just fine, but I have run into some issues, particularly with the 64-bit version.

Enthusiasts will move (if they haven't already). Most of the people who frequent sites like PCMag are computer enthusiasts, and we love the new technology. So I expect a lot of you will try move to the existing system. I think this will go smoother than the Windows Vista upgrade did, in large part because the applications model hasn't changed, and system requirements haven't changed much; but computers have gotten notably faster in that time.

The typical computer user probably should not upgrade an existing machine. Even though the Vista-to-Win7 upgrade is relatively straightforward, I'm generally not a big fan of typical users upgrading their operating systems. The consumer PC you bought came with software and drivers that were tested to work together. Any upgrade brings with it a risk than things will go wrong. People who have Windows XP can't upgrade, which is generally fine; their machines tend to be getting too old anyway. (If you can't resist, though, PC Mover supposedly can make it easier to transfer your applications and files from XP to Windows 7.)

I was skeptical about this kind of upgrade when Windows Vista came out, but even then I underestimated the problems that many people ran into. I don't think Windows Vista is particularly awful now--particularly on newer machines it came with--and I do know that any time you upgrade, there's a chance of breaking something. Even on the Mac, I ran into some problems with Snow Leopard, and while Windows 7 has been tested by more people, there are many more hardware and software combinations in the Windows ecosystem.

Some consumers will buy the upgrade regardless, and for most of them, it will go smoothly. Such customers will have an OS that is a bit nicer to user, and less intrusive. But it mostly won't be a big change in the way they do computing.

The other thing to keep in mind is that a typical new Windows system costs a lot less now than it did when Windows Vista came out nearly three years ago. You can get a reasonable mid-to-high-end desktop with Windows 7 for under $1,000 and a decent mid-range system for $500. A reasonable consumer notebook can sell for $800 or less. Instead of spending $200 for a Windows Home Premium upgrade, save the money until you can afford a new machine on which it's preinstalled.