Well maybe the exclamation points weren't need, because unlike previous roll outs there will be no big demand for this new OS. Here's a good article on this from today's Houston Chronicle. Windows Vista Here's a link to a Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. Note when you start to install the upgrade advisor it may ask you to go to a site and upgrade a file, when you click ok it takes you to a MS site but it's not clear which file you need. If you'll scroll down the page, there will be 4 files to select from, it's the first file on the list, click the download button to it's right. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Here's a link to a Wiki with a lot of other information as well. Vista Wiki
Clearly for the average guy/gal if you have a machine that is only a couple of years old and is doing the job you're better off to wait till you need a new machine than go through the hassle of the upgrade. Post Christmas there are a lot of good deals on machines at the big box retailers, they want to clear out their inventory of machines already loaded with Windows XP. HP does have a program, although it's obscure, where if you got a new machine recently you can get a free upgrade disk to Windows Vista. But if you need a new machine and aren't techie, then you're better off buying a machine with Vista already loaded, forget the good deals and rebates. Of course the conventional wisdom is that you should wait for about 6 months before taking the plunge, let others find out all the problems and MS will issue a bunch of fixes. Terry