Moving from Premium to Professional

[Mychael]

Am I correct in thinking that if I want to upgrade from Home Premium to Pro I do it by going to Control Panel>Upgrade> Crossing M/S hand with money and getting a new key to unlock?

I'm not sure I see the value in it as I dual boot but wanted to know in case I needed more networking options in the future.

Also as my current installation has (blissfully) been trouble free to date I don't want to mess it up. If I can and do an upgrade this way am I likely to have any grief ?

 

[Core]

I've never upgraded, so I don't have personal experiences to share. But if I did do an upgrade in place of a clean install, this is likely the only scenario. You should be able to use Anytime Upgrade to switch to Pro in a matter of minutes. It is my understanding that the actual data is already all there, it's just a question of using Anytime Upgrade to purchase and install a new key from Microsoft. That should enable the new features with minimal fuss. Maybe someone who's been through this stuff can confirm.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Right click on Computer then go to Properties and you'll see the following, it is rather painless, other than the wallet hit, from what I understand.

See the attached screen capture:

 

[Mychael]

Yeah, more concerned about whether or not it might trash my stable O/S. I can find the money a bit later on but more concerned about how smoothly the upgrade goes.
Be good to hear from anyone that has actually done it.

 

[catilley1092]

Mychael, that's how I updated my Windows 7 to Pro, I clicked onto the Start Menu to go to the site to purchase a key, then after it was emailed to me, I went back to the same menu (Windows Anytime Upgrade) to enter it.

It took less than 15 minutes, none of my programs/data was changed. You do need to be connected to the internet at the time, so that updates may be delivered to your computer. You couldn't ask for a simpler upgrade.

Make a couple of copies of your key, and keep it in a safe place. It's good for the life of the OS that you upgraded, so if you need to reinstall, after you fully update, you just reenter the key.

Keep in mind that that key is tied to the OS that you upgrade from, and not just the computer.

Hope my advice is of some help.

Cat

 

[Mychael]

Very helpful Cat. Thanks very much.

 

[Mychael]

Was just going to do it but what a rip off. Price was quoted as near enough to $90 (US) but our current rate of exchange is close to 1-1. However when it came up in Aussie dollars it was $200. You can shove that M/S.

 

[catilley1092]

That's still a lot cheaper than if you were to buy a computer with 7 Pro preinstalled. Most OEM's and retail stores charges $200 extra to do the very same thing.

Plus, you're getting XP Mode, it's the main reason for upgrading. There are other advantages too, but most of them are for business type use.

You know the main reason that I even bought Pro? There was a dispute on this very forum, as to whether the member's AV/IS suite would cover her on XP Mode. Another member and I was at odds with each other, and I knew that she wouldn't be covered, he insisted that she was, but I knew deep down that she wasn't.

So C_C came in, and said that without proof of my claim, and he was in the right, that my theory had little merit.

The thing was, this cat (the other member at odds with me) seemed to know it all, but had never ran a VM. I had, but not Windows Virtual PC w/XP Mode. I had a point to prove, so I purchased that key just to have XP Mode for myself.

And I was right, the host's AV didn't give the guest (XP Mode) live protection, I proved my point, and the member that needed advice thanked me for taking the time to help her.

I was looking for an excuse to upgrade anyway, so this was the time to do so. And you really do get a lot for your money, I felt it was well worth the total of $96.

As for the cat that was at odds with me, I've never heard from him again.

Cat

 

[Mychael]

Well would have been quite happy to pay $100 for the upgrade but when it re-directed me to the Australian site it suddenly went to $200. That's 100% inflation and our Aussie dollar is currently slightly better then parity with the greenback so it should not have cost me anymore. That's my beef.

 

[Mychael]

I got a reply to my email to M/S customer support. Basically it said that the cost variation was only in part effected by exchange rates and was also effected by production costing, sales numbers (phase of the moon, season) etc etc. .
They went on to say there were "quote , significant differences from the USA to Australian release versions Unquote". And that customer support originated from place of purchase. Still not clear how in this electronic age and mass production and that I was only buying a unlock key how all that justifies a 100% increase in price.

 

[catilley1092]

That's really screwed up. I've bought from Australian sellers on eBay, and the exchange rate wasn't that bad. It was only a few dollars more than the US price would have been.

I wonder, if you bought a boxed version, if it would be just as high in cost. Surely there must be online sites where you live, or retail stores that has it. I happened to be looking at Wal Mart, they even sell the boxed versions of the Anytime Upgrade to Pro & Ultimate.

But honestly, and I ran it for a few months, Ultimate isn't worth it's price, unless you really need those language packs. There are free alternatives to BitLocker.

Is there a Wal Mart in Australia? They're expanding all over the world, I wonder if they've reached you yet.

Cat

 

[Mychael]

Pro upgrade which was what I was after is $315 boxed. OEM around $180.
No we don't have a Wal Mart as yet... There is something over the other side of town which I think is called Cosko.
But anyway it's still all a rip-off... When I installed my home premium it asked for language and country so you cant tell me that there really are variations in the software from country to country.. At least Western countries.

Paying for an unlock key as I understand just opens up stuff which was on the disk in the first place and perhaps some download updates.

It's interesting to chat online with people from other countries and see what they pay, it's varies hugely. Some can get it a lot cheaper.

It's certainly possible, when my GF was still studying part time she had a student card and we bought Adobe Acrobat Pro for a fraction of the normal retail price.

My employer being a registered M/S user got all it's staff an office upgrade key for just $30. So it's possible.

 

[catilley1092]

Your employer sounds like a decent person to furnish Office upgrade keys for his/her employees. Many companies in the US, unless they're in the software business, won't do it. Mabye you can get a deal there.

In fact, it's amazing at the places that's too cheap to run a modern OS such as 7 on their computers. I had to go to my cardiologist, whose office is at the local hospital. As modern as they claim to be in all of their ads, and claims to be #1 in the region for specialties, such as heart and orthopedics, they're still using XP Pro for their equipment.

I noticed, when I was getting an echo (ultrasound) of my heart, when he was showing me the images of my heart pumping, the start menu was clearly XP. After I got through, I looked at the back of the computer, and the XP Pro COA was affixed to it.

Now, I could see it if it was an auto shop, but this is a hospital, and they do many surgeries on the heart and spine. As new as everything else was, and with many lives on the line, you'd think they'd want cutting edge computer systems to go along with all of that expensive equipment. Patients lives are at stake here, and they're running an almost decade old OS for imaging, and all of their other work.

I have to go back next week for the results, and just wonder what may have been missed during the tests, or if they're right at all.

The next time that I'm referred to a specialist, I'll find out what kind of computers/OS that they use during the tests before going to the appointment, as the doctors depend heavily on the test results that are generated by their computer system. With XP, you can't even see the images as clear as with Win 7, that alone justifies the switch.

Enough said.

Cat

 

[Mychael]

Yeah it was a pity the last thing they offered was office 2007. They never did it again for 2010 office or anything else.
We still run XP on everything at work. It's stable, it's known. That's the main thing.

With your medical stuff I'd suggest much the same thing, remember the actual imaging equipment is probably better it's just using XP to process it.

 

[Core]

Medical software is expensive and highly specialized. It does not surprise me at all that hospitals aren't quick to upgrade their operating systems. We've seen people posting here before with CAD software or paralegal software issues, because those products are either slow to adopt support for 7, or software upgrades for them are prohibitively expensive for the users.

You may have hundreds of computers, if not more, in a hospital. Before you upgrade them all to Windows 7, you will want to ensure that all of them, with their respective software, fully support the new OS. This can take time. You could argue that they could switch to the new OS in phases, but networking problems between 7 and XP are very common, so it comes down to how much of a headache you want to have.

Furthermore, you are talking about a Windows OS that doesn't even have its first SP1 officially out yet. Since when is it customary in a corporate environment, much less a hospital, to switch to a new Windows release before its first SP is out? This point should be even more emphasized since the Vista debacle.

Lastly, if a hospital or any corporation is switching from XP machines to 7, it's likely that they will need to upgrade their hardware as well. This may not be limited to just desktops or workstations, but printers, scanners, whatever. This is a massive undertaking, and a hugely expensive one. It's not like they can just pop the disc in and rainbows will appear in the horizon.

 

[TrainableMan]

I upgraded a machine from prem to pro with the Anytime Upgrade which I bought from Amazon for about US$80. Its just a little box with a code in it to upgrade. you don't get any disks and if you ever have to reinstall then you have to install Prem again and then enter the upgrade key again.

 

[Mychael]

Never thought to try Amazon. But Around $80US was about correct for what I saw when I first entered anytime upgrade. My complaint was why it suddenly went to $200 when it re-directed me to the Australian M/S site.

 

[Core]

Mmm... Not for nothing, but it's always seemed to me that buying directly from Microsoft instead of Amazon etc is like getting a burger from an airport restaurant instead of Burger King. Their prices tend to stay high even for outdated products. Not that they're the only OEM/publisher to do that. Hope you find a good deal.

 

[Mychael]

Thanks, I'm confident I will.

As an aside I found an Australian site called shopbot, they are sort of like a trading point for retailers and list all sorts of stuff not just computer related.
Software (for the same item) can vary by as much as $150 from a retailer to a 'Genuine Microsoft Retailer'. All retailers are legitimate point of sale shops some just don't mark up as much as others.