By Paul Van Middlesworth, Contributing Writer

Get out your saltshaker when Microsoft declares Windows 7 to be the greatest advance for carbon-based life forms since the evolution of heterosexuality. Be wary when the Apple dude nails the PC nerd with news that an upgrade to Windows 7 requires more man-hours than the construction of the great pyramids. You are in the “PC Spin Zone.”

Agenda-driven advertising’s purpose is not to enlighten or educate, but to sell. Truth and objectivity are usually impediments to this process so they are typically absent in commercial advertising.

At The Computer Factory, we’ve gained a unique perspective in our 15 years of building PCs, repairing and upgrading all makes and models of PCs and working with the entire spectrum of operating systems. When it comes to operating systems and computer functionality, we live “where the rubber meets the road.” We know what’s going on and call it as we see it.

In Vista’s three-year life span, we built and sold more than a thousand PCs, only seven with Windows Vista. We were able to tell our customers that Vista was slower than XP and had compatibility problems with a lot of everyday software. Armed with that knowledge, most of our customers chose XP over Vista for their new PCs.

Retailers selling name brand PCs were not permitted to offer their customers this choice. Microsoft advertised Vista as “the best operating system ever” and wouldn’t allow retailers and major brand PC makers to sell XP operating systems or XP-based PCs.

Windows 7 is essentially a cleaned up, debugged version of Vista. For the next several years, Win 7/64bit will be the operating system of choice for most new PCs. Business users will continue to stay with Win XP for a year or two until all of their enterprise specific programs are supported in 64bit Win 7, then they will move to Win 7/64.  

Before buying a new Win 7 PC, home users should make sure that their favorite software applications and hardware devices are Win 7/64bit compatible. Some unhappy PC buyers have already found that the hardware and software upgrades required by their new operating system cost more than the computer.

Microsoft is not likely to sell many Win 7 upgrades. While a few really ticked-off Vista victims will rush to upgrade to Win 7, few if any Win XP users will find a Win 7 upgrade of much benefit.

While Win 7 is 10 percent faster than Vista, it’s still 20 percent slower than XP and, like Vista, it still won’t run some older (legacy) software.

Weighing the options and costs pursuant to arriving at the operating system decision that best serves your circumstances can be complicated. Often upgrading an existing system is a cost effective alternative to buying a new one. Computer specialty stores that repair and upgrade as well as build PCs are the places have all your questions answered objectively.