I upgraded from my 32-bit Vista Home Premium to this without issue at all. Yes you have to do a custom install which means you will have to re-install all your programs, but that is the way I would prefer it, a nice clean install to start fresh with. I installed the 64-bit version without issue.
Install was a breeze and surprisingly it kept all my old data! in a folder called window.old – i had a made a backup of all my programs and files prior to installing so this was a nice surprise, I just had to move my pics documents and folders to their new place, then delete the stuff I don’t need. It even keeps the program folders so I was able to look up some serial numbers. All in the all the upgrade process was fairly quick with no issues!
After it got installed it loaded up VERY quickly, I have done several restarts while installing software and every time it is very quick.
Once it loaded up I was very pleased with the new interface, while it has alot of vista features, it adds alot of new ones, the interaction with windows and the desktop is spot-on and very easy to use, while some would compare it to the OSX bar, I think it is better. You just hover over a program and you can see every window that is open, this is very handy as I multitask a lot and constantly have many programs and windows open. Overall the new interface is killer and the best one windows has ever came out with.
I have installed all my programs and peripherals without issue and they all work, I went to a couple mfg. websites and windows 7 drivers were readily available.
The OS is just faster overall and cleaner.. it “feels” lightweight, and is definitely faster.
Overall, if you have vista, definitely upgrade, and if you still have XP, have no fear this one delivers, + it has XP mode if you ever need to use it!