OEM Home Premium & retail Ultimate

I have a laptop with 64-bit Home Premium. The warranty expires this June. I
want to upgrade to Ultimate. Does Microsoft sell OEM versions of Vista
upgrades on its web site? I assume that I would not have a problem installing
a retail upgrade of Ultimate onto a laptop with the OEM version of Home
Premium. Am I correct in my assumption?

Thank you.
David

"pc nerd" <> wrote in message
news6D079E5-A8D8-431F-BD9E-...
>I have a laptop with 64-bit Home Premium. The warranty expires this June. I
> want to upgrade to Ultimate. Does Microsoft sell OEM versions of Vista
> upgrades on its web site? I assume that I would not have a problem
> installing
> a retail upgrade of Ultimate onto a laptop with the OEM version of Home
> Premium. Am I correct in my assumption?
>
> Thank you.
> David


There is very little value in upgrading from Home Premium to Ultimate
especially as Windows 7 is earmarked for possible release at the end of this
year..


--
Mike Hall - MVP

Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

"Mike Hall - MVP" <mikehall@remove_mvps.com> wrote:

>There is very little value in upgrading from Home Premium to Ultimate
>especially as Windows 7 is earmarked for possible release at the end of this
>year..

I agree. Unless you have a pressing need for a fax app or Bitlocker, I would
definitely wait.

Hi David,

The short answer is that yes you can upgrade with a retail version of
Ultimate. Do you need to? Is there something in Ultimate that you need that
makes the price of this upgrade worthwhile?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"pc nerd" <> wrote in message
news6D079E5-A8D8-431F-BD9E-...
>I have a laptop with 64-bit Home Premium. The warranty expires this June. I
> want to upgrade to Ultimate. Does Microsoft sell OEM versions of Vista
> upgrades on its web site? I assume that I would not have a problem
> installing
> a retail upgrade of Ultimate onto a laptop with the OEM version of Home
> Premium. Am I correct in my assumption?
>
> Thank you.
> David

I hadn't thought about that. What versions will be available? What about
drivers? Will Windows 7 use Vista or XP drivers?

"Robert Neville" wrote:

> "Mike Hall - MVP" <mikehall@remove_mvps.com> wrote:
>
> >There is very little value in upgrading from Home Premium to Ultimate
> >especially as Windows 7 is earmarked for possible release at the end of this
> >year..
>
> I agree. Unless you have a pressing need for a fax app or Bitlocker, I would
> definitely wait.
>

Well, I want to be able to make policy changes to my laptop & Home Premium
doesn't allow that.

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

> Hi David,
>
> The short answer is that yes you can upgrade with a retail version of
> Ultimate. Do you need to? Is there something in Ultimate that you need that
> makes the price of this upgrade worthwhile?
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "pc nerd" <> wrote in message
> news6D079E5-A8D8-431F-BD9E-...
> >I have a laptop with 64-bit Home Premium. The warranty expires this June. I
> > want to upgrade to Ultimate. Does Microsoft sell OEM versions of Vista
> > upgrades on its web site? I assume that I would not have a problem
> > installing
> > a retail upgrade of Ultimate onto a laptop with the OEM version of Home
> > Premium. Am I correct in my assumption?
> >
> > Thank you.
> > David
>
>

Hi, David.

> Does Microsoft sell OEM versions of Vista
> upgrades on its web site?

"OEM" and "upgrades" are mutually-exclusive terms. An OEM version is, by
definition, to be installed on a factory-fresh machine, so it can't be used
to upgrade from anything.

And, from your later post:
> Will Windows 7 use Vista or XP drivers?

Windows 7 will need new drivers, which may or may not also work with Vista
or WinXP. Remember that Microsoft writes Windows; hardware manufacturers
write the drivers that make their products work with Windows. Microsoft
works closely with major IHVs (Independent Hardware Vendors) and includes
many available drivers in the Windows package, but the drivers are the
hardware maker's responsibility.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2009 in Win7 Ultimate x64 7000)

"pc nerd" <> wrote in message
news6D079E5-A8D8-431F-BD9E-...
> I have a laptop with 64-bit Home Premium. The warranty expires this June.
> I
> want to upgrade to Ultimate. Does Microsoft sell OEM versions of Vista
> upgrades on its web site? I assume that I would not have a problem
> installing
> a retail upgrade of Ultimate onto a laptop with the OEM version of Home
> Premium. Am I correct in my assumption?
>
> Thank you.
> David

Something you can't do with parental controls?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"pc nerd" <> wrote in message
news:7F217880-0D5D-4F8F-9368-...
> Well, I want to be able to make policy changes to my laptop & Home Premium
> doesn't allow that.
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi David,
>>
>> The short answer is that yes you can upgrade with a retail version of
>> Ultimate. Do you need to? Is there something in Ultimate that you need
>> that
>> makes the price of this upgrade worthwhile?
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "pc nerd" <> wrote in message
>> news6D079E5-A8D8-431F-BD9E-...
>> >I have a laptop with 64-bit Home Premium. The warranty expires this
>> >June. I
>> > want to upgrade to Ultimate. Does Microsoft sell OEM versions of Vista
>> > upgrades on its web site? I assume that I would not have a problem
>> > installing
>> > a retail upgrade of Ultimate onto a laptop with the OEM version of Home
>> > Premium. Am I correct in my assumption?
>> >
>> > Thank you.
>> > David
>>
>>

pc nerd <> wrote:

>I hadn't thought about that. What versions will be available?

Noone knows except the marketing geniuses at MS and they aren't talking.
Uninformed opinion says they'll be very similar to Vista, but that can be
changed pretty much any time up until RTM.

> What about
>drivers? Will Windows 7 use Vista or XP drivers?

There's very little change to the kernal from Vista to 7, so the drivers ought
to be the same. They definitely won't use XP drivers.

FWIW the current Windows 7 betas are often able to use Vista drivers if no
Win7 drivers exist for a device. Despite that, there might be some devices
that will not work unless or until Win7 drivers are written for them. One
way or the other all of my own hardware that works in Vista also works in
Win7. Except for the keyboard and MP3 player most of the hardware is 1-4
years old, with the PC itself designed for XP MCE 2005.

"pc nerd" <> wrote in message
news:19954E46-20A1-45AA-85A3-...
>I hadn't thought about that. What versions will be available? What about
> drivers? Will Windows 7 use Vista or XP drivers?
>
> "Robert Neville" wrote:
>
>> "Mike Hall - MVP" <mikehall@remove_mvps.com> wrote:
>>
>> >There is very little value in upgrading from Home Premium to Ultimate
>> >especially as Windows 7 is earmarked for possible release at the end of
>> >this
>> >year..
>>
>> I agree. Unless you have a pressing need for a fax app or Bitlocker, I
>> would
>> definitely wait.
>>