Many of the upgrade paths here are illogical and unlikely to come into play (Vista Starter 64 to anything for example) but to simplify things a bit, if your upgrade path falls in a green box, congratulations—your upgrade process will be easier and will preserve your current files, settings and programs. If you fall in the sea of blue there, that means you will have to perform a “Custom Install” which falls somewhere in between an upgrade and a fresh install. If you are still confused, head on over to ZDNet and check out a simplifed version of the chart. [Mossblog via ZDNet]
matt
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 11:03 AM… wtf is confusing about this?
have you guys never played battle ships?
its not confusing at all anyway, because no matter what your circumstance, you just format your drive and install the new os. if your sensible, you already have a backup of your stuff, and updating it shouldn’t be hard. so what if it takes an hour or two? you only have to do it every few years, reinstalling all your apps gives you instant notification about what works and what doesn’t in the new os too.
StevoTheDevo
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 11:08 AMThey should have left it as 2 charts.. 32 bit and 64 bit..
They’ve merged 2 charts together to make this mess
bryan wolfgang duke
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 1:04 PMThis chart is as simple as you could want. Did my grandad write this article?! And you call yourself nerds! Pah!