時事新聞:作別Vista,攜手Windows 7

【英文原文】

Last week, this column laid out the painful, tedious process that awaits Windows XP users in October if they choose to migrate their existing PCs to Microsoft's forthcoming new edition of Windows, called Windows 7. This week, I aim to explain some of the other details and issues involved in upgrading a PC to Windows 7, even if you are currently running Windows Vista, from which an upgrade is far simpler.

Unlike migrating from XP—still the most common version of Windows, despite its age—moving up from Vista is designed to be relatively straightforward. It's a direct upgrade process that preserves all your personal files, settings and programs.

However, even this easier transition involves some choices and limitations that can be confusing for mainstream, non-techie users, so I will try to sort them out here. Throughout this column, I will be referring to simple, direct, upgrades meant for average users. I won't be discussing more complex methods that require things like wiping out, or dividing, hard disks.

Unlike Vista, Windows 7 doesn't require beefier hardware than its immediate predecessor. It should work fine on nearly every Vista PC, and even on many late-model computers running XP. In fact, it is a bit less demanding than Vista. For instance, Microsoft has repeatedly demonstrated Windows 7 working on low-powered netbooks that choked on Vista.

However, just like Vista, Windows 7 will be sold in a multitude of different editions, and deciding which one to buy can be confusing. There are six different flavors, though one is reserved for countries Microsoft calls 'emerging markets.' Of the remaining five, one is for big businesses. Another, a stripped-down edition called Starter, can't be installed as a direct upgrade for existing computers, according to Microsoft.

Most consumers will likely choose Windows 7 Home Premium, which costs $120 for upgraders and has all the key Windows 7 features. The next step up, called Professional, adds a few extras that may be especially useful for consumers who work at large companies or use older, specialized programs. Most notably, the Professional edition, unlike the Home Premium version, can remotely tap into certain corporate networks that use a system called 'Domain Joining.' And the Professional version has the ability to run older Windows XP programs that wouldn't otherwise work in Windows 7. It costs $200 for upgraders. The other likely choice is called Ultimate. It combines every feature of the other editions but costs upgraders $100 more than Home Premium.

There are limitations on which current Vista machines can be directly upgraded to the various versions of Windows 7. In general, you can only upgrade your current version of Vista to the comparable version of Windows 7. For instance, Vista Home Premium can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium and Vista Business can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional. This rule has two exceptions. Any flavor of Vista except Starter can be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate, if you care to spend the extra money. And Vista Home Basic can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium.

All of the three common consumer versions of Windows 7 can run inside virtual machines, such as the faux Windows computers created on Apple Macintosh hardware using the Fusion and Parallels software. However, the upgrade rules still apply.

After you've installed Windows 7, you can move up from Home Premium to Professional with minimal extra effort, for an added sum, by using a program from Microsoft called Windows Anytime Upgrade. This unlocks the added features of Professional, which were actually already on your machine, but were hidden. You can do the same thing to move up to Ultimate.

However, there's another complication. For each of the three main consumer versions of Windows 7, there are actually two editions. One is meant for PCs with standard processors, called 32-bit processors, and the other for PCs that sport newer processors called 64-bit processors. The 32-bit version of Windows can recognize only 3 gigabytes of memory, but the 64-bit version can use much, much more. For most average users, 3 gigabytes is plenty, but some consumers have 64-bit Vista machines, which can move faster when lots of programs are being used at once, or when doing tasks like playing back high-definition video.

The problem is that you cannot directly upgrade 32-bit Vista to 64-bit Windows 7, or vice versa. So that adds another layer of complexity to the upgrade process.

Finally, a note about prices. Most major Windows PC makers are offering free, or very low cost, upgrades to Windows 7 later, if you buy a Vista PC now. They are doing this, in cooperation with Microsoft, to discourage people from waiting until October to buy a new PC. Each hardware company has slightly different policies on this. However, this free upgrade program isn't of any help if you simply want to keep your existing PC and upgrade it to Windows 7.

You can learn more about the various editions of Windows 7 at: And I'll have a full review closer to its Oct. 22 release date.

【中文譯文】

Windows XP使用者如果想在10月份將自己PC機上的作業系統升級為微軟的新版本Windows系統──即Windows 7，將會非常地勞神費力，一週前本專欄對此做了詳盡的描述。本週，我打算向各位詳細講解從Vista系統升級至Windows 7的過程中的一些細節和問題，雖然從Vista系統升級會簡單得多，也依然是有一些問題的。

從Vista升級比從Windows XP──雖然歷史悠久，到如今卻依然是使用者最為廣泛的Windows作業系統──升級要簡單便捷一些，系統會得到直接升級，你的所有私人文件、設定和程式都會得到保留。

不過，即便是這種相對簡易的升級也需要有所取捨，並有一定的限制，而多數使用者都是非技術專業的，在操作時還是會覺得很困惑，所以我在這裡會把這些問題一一羅列出來。在本專欄中，我將傾向於那些簡單、直接、適用於普通使用者的升級方法。我不會跟大家來探討那些複雜的需要對硬碟進行清除、分割槽的操作。

Vista系統需要比之前版本的作業系統更為強大的硬體，而Windows 7則不需要，它在幾乎所有裝了Vista的個人電腦上都能執行良好。事實上，Windows 7所需的配置比Vista還要低。比如，微軟已經反覆地演示Windows 7在那些低效能上網本上的執行，換作是Vista的話本子就該癱瘓了。

不過，同Vista一樣，Windows 7也有多種不同的版本，讓人眼花繚亂，不知道該買哪種版本才好。一共有六種版本：有一種是專供微軟所謂的“新興市場”；其餘五種當中，一種是針對大企業的；還有一種是被稱為Starter的簡裝版，微軟說，該版本無法在現有電腦的基礎上直接升級。

多數使用者可能會選擇Windows 7家庭高階版(Windows 7 Home Premium)，升級費用為120美元，具備了Windows 7全部的主要效能。再往上是專業版(Professional)，多了幾項功能，對於在大公司上班或者使用一些特殊老程式的客戶會特別實用。專業版同家庭高階版最明顯的區別在於，專業版使用者可以遠端進入利用“加入網域”(Domain Joining)系統建立的企業內部網。另外，專業版可以執行版本比較早的Windows XP系統軟體，其他Windows 7版本是做不到這一點的。升級至專業版的費用是200美元。還有一種選擇稱為旗艦版(Ultimate)，它結合了其他各版本的所有功能，不過比家庭高階版要貴100美元。

現裝Vista系統的電腦直接升級至Windows 7的不同版本時都會有各種限制。一般情況下，你只能將現有的Vista系統升級至對應的Windows 7版本。比如，Vista家庭高階版只能升級到Windows 7家庭高階版，Vista 商用版也只能升級至Windows 7專業版。不過有兩個例外：除Starter之外的Vista版本都可以升級至Windows 7旗艦版，前提是你願意多花點錢；Vista家庭普通版可以升級至Windows 7家庭高階版。

Windows 7的三種普通使用者版都可以在虛擬機器中執行，比如用Fusion和Parallels軟體在蘋果Macintosh平臺中執行Windows系統。不過對應升級的規則在此種情況下同樣適用。

安裝了Windows 7之後，不怎麼費力便可從家庭高階版升級至專業版，利用微軟推出的Windows Anytime Upgrade程式，需要支付一點額外的費用。這個程式可以釋放出專業版的那些額外功能，這些功能其實已經安裝在你的電腦裡了，只是被遮蔽起來了而已。使用者可以通過同樣的方法升級至旗艦版。

這其中卻還有另外一個問題。這三種針對普通使用者的Windows 7版各自有兩個版本：一個適用於裝有標準處理器、即32位處理器的電腦，另一類適用於裝有新的64位處理器的電腦。32位版本的Windows系統只有3G的記憶體，64位的記憶體大大高於此數。對於多數普通使用者來說，3G記憶體便已足夠，不過有些使用者使用的是64位的Vista機子，在同時執行很多程式或者播放高清晰影碟時其執行速度就能比前者快很多。

問題在於，你不能直接將32位Vista系統升級至64位Windows 7系統，從64位Vista系統升級至32位Windows 7系統也不行。這就進一步增加了升級過程的複雜性。

最後就是價格方面的問題了。如果你現在購買的是預裝Vista系統的電腦，多數大型Windows電腦生產商都可以在今後免費或者以極低的價格幫你升級至Windows 7系統。這些廠商同微軟合作推出這一舉措，是為了鼓勵消費者不要等到10月份才出手買新電腦。每家硬體商的政策會有些微的區別。不過，如果你想繼續用手頭現成的電腦，到時候再升級至Windows 7的話，是無法享受這種免費升級服務的。

關於Windows 7各個版本的更多情況，請參見。在10月22日發售日期臨近的時候，我還會發表一篇完整版的測評。