To make a long story short: I am not "upgrading" to Windows 7.

Windows 7 is just a service pack of Vista, service packs are a major trouble to install on Vista.

I still didn't manage to install SP2, as it fails rather misteriously, I have tried all prescribed fixes and strategies, still no luck. SP won't install. The logical thing would be reinstalling as an in place upgrade. I had bought a full install Windows Vista Ultimate retail, costing at the time in excess of 600 Euros (in order to being able to repair a broken OEM Vista system, "repair" didn't even work then).

So, in practice, you pay for the privilege of being able to upgrade, fix, repair, or choose to install from scratch.

The issue is that these feature you paid for won't work, as the system I have installed on this machine right now "got upgraded" to service pack 1, and service pack disinstallation isn't really a feasible option.

So Microsoft is in breach of contract and falsely advertises whenever sells a full retail copy of their operating systems: they promise you will able to fix, repair, upgrade (you paid for it dammit!), but it won't work. It will let you only perform a fresh install, that is it will erase all your work.

Vista is badly broken, and there is no reasonable hope that Vindows 7 is any better, in particular it is plainly useless if you are a software developer.The current standard for software developers isn't Visual Studio 8, not if you want, for instance to be able to program current generation of Microsoft Embedded, mobile, whatever (whether any embedded developer in his or her right mind should consider Windows is an entirely different question).

What will you give me if upgrade? A virtual machine emulation of WIndows XP! Thank you! Big deal!

A flashier desktop, and the possibility to enlarge windows by shaking them! Whoa, now I am overwhelmed.

Sorry Microsoft, I have just bought a Mac and I am a proud owner of Parallels: I can now use XP applications as if they were Mac applications, as I am not interested in Power Hungry Gaming, this works very well for me: what I am mostly interested in is software development, and I noticed that for my purposes, Macs suit me better: at the very least, the software needed for their platform, they are wise enough to give out for free. You can get a power conservative, reasonably priced new Mac mini for about the same money you would pay for an equivalent Windows PC, with one big difference: It just works, reliably, out of the box.

I would have considered upgrading to Windows 7 had it been priced more sensibly, but I cannot even be sure that upgrading will work on my system (service pack 2 fails, remember?). If I upgrade I run the risk of not being able to, and I wouldn't be able to do a clean install if I buy a cheaper "upgrade only" version.

So this for me is a loose-loose proposition. I am not even certain that the development tools I have paid for and installed on Vista will continue to work... Probably I would have to wait another year or two, till they fix them to work on 7, or I could use them all on a Mac... Guess which strategy is going to cost me less?

I will not upgrade to Windows 7 in the next two years, this way I will save in the order of more 1000 Euros in total cost of ownership, I suggest you get smarter and do the same: replace your current WIndows setup with a virtual machine you run on another MORE STABLE system,don't play games on your PC (use a console, you won't loose any sleep for hardware incompatibilities and/or drivers).

If you are a software developer I would also suggest you that more money to the largest monopolist just means less money for everyone else, including you. Just say no to Microsoft.