October 22nd, 2009 is the official retail launch of Windows 7 for Microsoft. It’s been a long time coming, and many have said that “Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been”. I definitely agree with this statement, and I wholeheartedly advocate that Windows users migrate to Windows 7 as soon as possible.

But, let’s look at WHY to upgrade. First off, one thing I hated about Windows Vista was that my computer always seemed to be “doing something” even if I wasn’t running any applications… CPU usage was all over the place and memory usage would keep growing. Wih Windows 7, that problem is solved, it FEELS like a lightweight operating system. But aside from the generalities, what specifically can Windows 7 do that Windows XP can’t?

• Native 64-bit CPU, memory, and application support
  • With memory being so cheap, and 64-bit applications around the corner (Office 2010, Photoshop, even IE & Firefox) it’s important to be ready for the future (and you CAN’T do an in-place upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit O/S)
• Great new version of Windows Media Center (including new Internet TV features)
• Updated, modern GPU-accelerated interface
  • New taskbar to keep all your most used programs close at hand, add jump lists and it’s easy to get to the documents you need in less than 2 clicks
• Startup in less than 30 seconds, Shutdown in less than 10 seconds, Resume almost instantaneously
  • Instant gratification, what more can you want?
• HomeGroup functionality (like a mini-domain)
  • Easily Share documents, media and printers with a simple password

Those are the big new functions that I personally use everyday. I have a total of 3 computers in the house, all of which are running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. It’s simply better than Windows XP in every regard, and is well worth the upgrade. Always do a clean install when upgrading to ensure your computer is performing it’s best.

Here’s the relevant links to help purchase and deploy Windows 7 Professional:

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit on PriceGrabber
• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on PriceGrabber
• How to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7
• How to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7
• The Official Windows 7 Upgrade Chart

Disclaimer: I’m the Business Development Manager for Microsoft at ASI, so I am a little biased