Windows 7: I have been seeing alot about upgrade vs retail

So really what is the difference in the two other then price? I mean if you can do a clean install with the upgrade disk isnt that basically what the retail does?



btw I tried upgrading from vista and it worked good once booted but took forever to boot and sometimes locked up and at times ate alot of ram. So i popped the Windows 7 upgrade disk in and did clean install now im zooming.

So if i can get the full OS from an upgrade and doing a clean install why would anyone buy Full retail?

It's a licensing thing. The only reason people would buy Full Retail is honesty. It is illegal to use the Upgrade media unless you have an existing OS. I know, it makes no sense on Microsoft's part, but they develop the software, they get to choose the license terms. It is up to us to follow them.

Since 99.9% of the people who will install windows 7 already have xp/vista why would anyone buy full retail? What benefit would it bring?

The only people who need to buy Full retail are those who build their own systems, but don't fit MS's criteria for getting the OEM license.

It brings the benefit of a much simpler process should you need to reinstall. There are several ways around this, however, such as the clean install with an upgrade disc trick, or a creating an image of your system volume once you get Windows 7 installed.

Plus not everyone knows it is possible to do a clean install with upgrade media.