Microsoft launches "Get Ready" program for Vista upgrades

Microsoft has officially launched its Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, as part of a new "Get Ready" program designed to convince consumers to rush out and buy new hardware and keep the PC industry afloat, er, we mean, help consumers prepare for Vista before it arrives early next year. If you run the program on any recently purchased PC, chances are you'll get a thumbs up for basic Vista functions. But be forewarned: if your graphics card isn't up to snuff, you'll probably get a warning that you'll need to upgrade if you want that fresh Aero look. And forget about getting advice from Microsoft about upgrading peripherals; just about everything connected to your PC is likely to be met with a suggestion that you "contact the manufacturer." Not that we're worried; chances are that by the time Vista is finally released, we'll have gone through at least a couple of upgrade cycles on our desktop, and should be ready to run whatever it is that Microsoft finally throws at us.

[Via CNET]

[Ted @ May 18th 2006 5:20PM]

Get Ready!....For what another year or two.

[Shmoe @ May 18th 2006 5:22PM]

The peripheral warnings will probably go away as the program grows. It's only a beta. Geez

[Gene Holman @ May 18th 2006 5:24PM]

"Not that we're worried; chances are that by the time Vista is finally released, we'll have gone through at least a couple of upgrade cycles on our desktop..."

Ooooh, what a burn!

[Calum @ May 18th 2006 5:30PM]

I meet requirements! WOOHOO, not that i will ever install vista, me thinks me will be going back to the MAC

[uomolinux @ May 18th 2006 5:33PM]

Why wait for Vista when U can buy a Mac that can now boot in XP ? Finally, I don't think I will upgrade my laptop before 2 or 3 years, to late M$

[Pete @ May 18th 2006 5:34PM]

I am wondering about Vista Media Center Edition. My machine now meets the Vista 'Premium' requirements, but MCE has really high standards. My machine is hardly making the cut for XP MCE, let alone Vista MCE.

[Harbinger @ May 18th 2006 5:36PM]

Gimme a second to reboot onto the NTFS partition, gonna check if the MacBook Pro clears the minimum specs.

[Jeff @ May 18th 2006 5:44PM]

From the Windows Vista Home Page - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.aspx - "In today's digital world, you want the PC to adapt to you, so..." download this app to see how much you're going to need to adapt your PC before using Vista.

Nice work, guys.

[Matt @ May 18th 2006 5:49PM]

Anybody want a laugh? I downloaded the upgrade advisor onto my computer... and can't run it because I'm running a legal copy of x64. :D

[anon @ May 18th 2006 5:51PM]

"gonna check if the MacBook Pro clears the minimum specs."

I was wondering if MS will make it appear that Apple HW is inferior with this test.

[Shawn @ May 18th 2006 5:56PM]

First and foremost, @ #6, I definitely think that belittling someone is the best way to get your point across. Now that we got that out of the way, I think you're jumping the gun a little bit there on the anti-Mac flaming. Marc didn't actually mention apple hardware anywhere in there... just a little crack on the laughable pace at which Microsoft has been developing Vista.

[anon @ May 18th 2006 5:58PM]

#6,

Just to point out some facts, Apple's market share is low, but steadily growing. The move to Intel (Boot Camp, Parallels, and the forthcoming Win32 API) will put a huge dent in Windows market share in the next couple years.

The only one losing market share is Windows. This is due in part to both Linux and OSX, of course.

This continuing delay of Vista, the constant move toward OS-independent applications, as well as, the superior offerings of other OSs, Windows reign is faltering.

[mazola @ May 18th 2006 6:03PM]

Get Ready for Vista! (aka Assume Crash Position!)

[Peter Horner @ May 18th 2006 6:32PM]

Looks like Windows Vista Ultimate is recomended for my machine! Is that really the ultimate version or is there another one above Vista Ultimate?

[Marcus Tein @ May 18th 2006 6:45PM]

How great, the advisor doesn't work for me. It says "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor could not run Winsat. System compatibility status could not be evaluated.".
And I am running a legal copy of XP Home Edition. Though I already know that I have enough RAM and enough processor power to run Vista. (1GB RAM, 3.8GHz processor.)

[Andrews @ May 18th 2006 6:45PM]

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is now done.
Windows Vista Ultimate appears to best meet your needs. Learn more about other editions of Windows Vista.

Be sure to print or save this report before exiting the Upgrade Advisor.


whoopdie doo

[3rdsun @ May 18th 2006 7:03PM]

i dont think im ready

[Pete M @ May 18th 2006 7:37PM]

I'm only on an Athlon 2000 and it's supported, I don't see what the fuss is - Vista will run on most machines bought in the last 3 years!

[robo @ May 18th 2006 7:39PM]

#6
I don't think Marc was commenting on PC vs Mac.
More that MS, in releasing an OS with such high minimum reqs, is helping to sell new PCs...

Don't get all upset... ;)

[Grokodile @ May 18th 2006 7:44PM]

A get ready tool? Are you kidding me? Well, no, unfortunately not. Who does MicroSoft think they are anyway, the death star of the IT world, enforcing compliance with their own brand of standards as a means of keeping competitors at bay? Oh, my bad, never mind.

[hozae @ May 18th 2006 8:28PM]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37862156@N00/148998684/

Minimum 800MHz -- I only have 0.00 MHz on my Mac DUO Core?

[Rex @ May 18th 2006 8:44PM]

"Upgrade your CPU

800 MHz required to install Windows Vista (Your computer currently has 0.00 Hz)
Your Central Processing Unit does not meet the minimum supported system requirements for Windows Vista. We recommend at least a 1 GHz CPU for all premium editions of Windows Vista. Contact your PC retailer to see if an upgrade is available."

WOW! I didn't think that a Pentium 4 3.06 ran at 0.00 hertz!

[Mephistophelian @ May 18th 2006 8:55PM]

You guys sound surprised that a peice of Microsoft software doesn't work as it should.

[duke @ May 18th 2006 8:59PM]

lets all proudly say NO to vista!

[Cyotik @ May 18th 2006 9:19PM]

It is just a beta...

[Chris McDowell @ May 18th 2006 9:34PM]

the 0mhz is actually infinite. There is no limit on what your computer can run. That's what it is trying to tell you. Either that or just shitty software from MS.

[Free The Flash @ May 18th 2006 9:56PM]

I can't wait until vista comes out! But I don't think my computer will be able to handle it.

"Computers are obsolete the minute you take 'em out of the store"

[apoc @ May 18th 2006 10:13PM]

a vista clean install uses about 500MB ram to run, apart from that you dont need special hardware to run it, only if you want to use the aero theme, wich runs fine on a ati x1400, core duo 1,9, 1gb ddr2.

I've seen a Vista beta running, aero is really nice, animations and fades everywhere, real smooth eye candy, but that isnt the best of vista, the search funtionality is really well done and everywhere, menu re organization, user friendlyness is greatly improved, for example, you want to access a another user's ntfs folder(created with xp), as soon as you try to open it , vista warns you that the folder is belongs to another user and asks if you want to solve this, since t
e folder isnt protected you are guided to the folder's security settings with focus on the button you have to press in order to change the folder ownership.

as for networks, there's a new network diagram view to help you diagnose network problems and see extra info about the other pcs/routers/etc in the network.

As for hardware, there wasn't a single 'unknown device' as this post suggests there will be. Vista simply searches online for tge required drivers, and it works better than xp, seing is believing.

Voice recognition is also amazing, just search the web for a demo, the new engine is completly application-independent, everything you see on screen can be activated via voice, everything's an numbered object/speakable text.

[Silver @ May 19th 2006 12:02AM]

"Last I heard their market share was 2.3% and falling."

You must not read much.

"Now that we got that out of the way, I think you're jumping the gun a little bit there on the anti-Mac flaming."

Sadly, Shawn, it doesn't take much to get an irrational Apple hater to foam at the mouth around here. Pretty much any Engadget story will do it. Windows stories, cell phone stories, game console stories, MP3 player stories...all perfectly acceptable reasons to let the world know you hate Apple, while looking like a complete moron in the process.

Methinks some Windows users have nothing better to do while their spyware cleaners run than to post anti-Apple rants?

[APerson @ May 19th 2006 12:03AM]

Yeah capable is right. Capable of running it as slow as $hit. I think my 100mhz pentium was capable of running Windows 95 but was it ever slow. For all you noobs out there, best just to wait and buy a new computer with Vista loaded onto it....will save a lot of hassle and your sanity as well.

[Shmoe @ May 19th 2006 12:09AM]

The hardware requirements really don't seem as dire as some were forecasting. Really don't see a problem with upgrading.

[anon @ May 19th 2006 12:23AM]

I believe the 0.00 HZ result was do to Hozae running the Vista test while using Parallels. The same result would would not be possible if he was using a direct version of WinXP.


To Free the Flash, You really should look up the word "obsolete".

[Anonomus ( I can't Speel) @ May 19th 2006 2:20AM]

Windows Vista looks cool but, Forget it, windows is a waste of time and as for mac i wouldn't touch one which means I want a mac with Vista. If vista is ever released

[Shunnabunich @ May 19th 2006 3:00AM]

#29 (Anonomus (no, you can't "speel")) :P
That leaves you with...um...Linux? Why are you so averse to Windows AND Mac OS X, anyway? Surely there must be some kind of common ground you can find. ^_^

But yeah...how sad is all this? Microsoft still seems to think that if they keep pretending to be their own universal standard for the computing world, nobody will notice the dork behind the curtain.

[Oddmanout @ May 19th 2006 3:53AM]

"...don't pretend like the Windows PC industry needs any help."

Of course it doesn't. And for that matter none of us (or the world at large) really NEED Vista. Humanity got along fine for thousands of years without computers at all. The author is merely satirizing the GREED of the computer (and by extension I suspect all) business/industry.

Like when you go get work done on your car, they ALWAYS tell you you need a few extra things (and if you're women they tell you you need a LOT of things and that your life/sanity/fertility hangs in the balance). And it's often true, those would probably benefit you (a brand new spark plug obviously has less wear on it that one used for 3,000 miles), but you could also usually get by without them. But of course the mechanics want to get as much money from you as they can. Same thing here...so lighten up a little, huh ? No matter what anyone says or HOW much marketshare Apple has Mr. Gates will be happy to take you money whenever he finaly deigns to release his next monstrocity...

[harrisjamieh @ May 19th 2006 7:38AM]

My iMac Core Duo will run it just fine aparently :-) (not that i'd want it to mind..)

[lilchippy @ May 19th 2006 7:53AM]

I have had a Windows ME for like 5 year! i need a new computer and i have been waiting for like a year for vista to come out but i have to wait like another year!!! But get ready!

[Jake @ May 19th 2006 10:24AM]

I can't find this on Microsofts website, link plz.

[ap @ May 19th 2006 10:53AM]

I think it's the other way around, #29, Silver.

I've been reading Engadget a long time and while I have seen many dorky posts from people complaining about apple news and proclaiming their apple hatred, I've seen a lot more posts bashing microsoft. First, it's almost guaranteed that in a Windows article, someone will post "Just get a Mac!" The article may never mention apple, but someone always thinks they have to chime in to say that apple is better. Second, if an article even has an inkling of some bad comment against apple or steve jobs, a whole battery of apple supporters seem to come out of the woodworks to defend apple and bash the author.

I like both systems and most of the time, I take all this as just fanboyism. But your comment, Silver, just seemed unfair.

[directive0 @ May 19th 2006 1:35PM]

40:

I agree 100%, too much corporate devotion from both sides, but I find mac users to be the worst offenders.

Theres no shortage of dweebs on the net looking to blindly attachthemselves to some group. Mac, pc, *nix, Palm, etc etc you name it someone is out there plastering their desktop with pictures of its mascot reaming some other mascot etc etc. IMO the real smart people are the ones that buy a rig based on their personal preferance, specific needs and budget. There is no magic bullet computer, just alot of different options. And although I'm a mac user, I would never want that to be the only option and dont for a second assume that Apple or Jobs are either A) Infallible, or B) not out to get my money for the least possible effort.

[Daniel McMahon @ May 19th 2006 5:13PM]

It's currently not being offered for download, however you can go directly to http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/d/2/6d27774c-07af-4a2a-b5a1-f961458f6d4b/VistaUpgradeAdvisor.msi and still retrieve it.

[Tim @ May 19th 2006 6:47PM]

Man, it'll start getting REALLY scary once we see these stickers on Macs... could you imagine seeing it on a Mac CoreDuo Desktop?

[Richard @ May 28th 2006 4:59PM]

My reply to the user 'Steve Jobs Sucks A S S!':

How mature. And actually, the Mac industry is expanding. I bet you've never used a Mac? They beat the crap out of Windows. And they're based on Open Source software, which is much more than I can say for Windows.

And didn't you know, the first version of Windows was based on stolen Apple code?

[LeQuebecois @ Oct 22nd 2006 5:00PM]

I have been installing using the latest builds and even without Glass it's an improvement over XP. AS for when it comes out, well your guess is as good as mine.