PSA: With vista upgrade, you only needed a Windows OS installed... With Win7, it has to be activated

the preinstalled OS.

I always thought, with vista upgrade, MS would see the existing ID number (you enter the bloody thing when you install XP, you know) and attached Vista's number to it.

Perhaps not, otherwise Microsoft's happy revamp of the activation procedure wouldn't be needed:

Windows 7 upgrade requires the existing OS to be activated... not just installed to be deemed "qualifying".

Now if anyone cares to google, you'll quickly discover a LOT of cases, especially surrounding vista, about legal copies being deemed illegal, reports of people having to re-activate (and call MS) because they updated something as mundane as a video driver...

I wonder if their activation process now actively ties 'full' and 'upgrade' licenses together while also allowing the hassle of a person reinstalling the first OS, activating it, then all subsequent upgrades or be denied activation... (not that I care anymore, but this is a PSA...)

If you use upgrade editions, especially multiple ones in succession, be prepared for problems when this latest monstrosity is put onto market.

MS might change their mindset before the launch, but considering the backlash people had over vista upgrade's problems, and the subsequent "Huh? Can't hear you, am in a soundproof room with 10 hookers right now" response from that company, I doubt anything will be different this time 'round. Apart from being thrice the hassle Vista upgrade ever was.

I suspect this also works around that vista bug where one could install the OS a special way and then reinstall it to get around having to have that prior windows version already installed.

Hurry up October, my popcorn is ready. :9

Evidently the upgrade will also upgrade a 2000 install-which unlike XP and Vista doesn't phone home.

Many of the reported problems with the activation process is by script kiddies trying to get a pirated copy for free or on the cheap to work with their hacked up system.

As egregious as I think Microsoft's pricing policies are, I still consider it theft for someone to use a hacked copy of a previous version of the OS to save money on the "upgrade" version.

And FWIW, I have a computer that started with Windows ME that I have subsequently upgraded to Windows 2000, Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro, Vista, and now Windows 7 (all with legitimate licenses), and it installed okay. It's an old machine that was uselessly slow with Vista, and is a nightmare to use with Windows 7, but it DID work. Maybe my RC version doesn't have some of the "features" you're talking about, though I haven't heard of them.