What is the difference between Windows Vista full package product and upgrade?

Question

I was looking at Windows Vista Home Basic and was wondering why the full package is 199 dollars and the upgrade is only 99 dollars and what the difference is.

Answer 1

Dougie is close, but no all they way there. You only have to have a copy of Windows XP, it doesn't have to be installed on the hard drive to use Vista Upgrade. But as the one guy said, they are the exact same program, just that one requires proof of ownership of a previous Windows (I think only XP counts, perhaps 2000).

Answer 2

The first guy doesn't know what he's talking about. As long as you're talking about like versions the reason there is a price difference is because the upgrade version requires a previous qualifying version of Windows in order to be installed. The price is the difference between what you paid for the old version, plus the new one.

If you're talking about two different versions, for instance, say Vista Basic and Vista Ultimate, then the difference is due to features and capabilities. But within versions, the only difference between the upgrade and and full is that the upgrade requires a previous qualifying version in order to be installed.

Answer 3

Full version is for a new PC. (i.e. bare bones hard drive). Upgrade package requires the presence of a fully licensed version of an earlier Windows OS (i.e. XP or W2K) be installed on the hard drive.

Answer 4

Full package comes with the whole thing--word processors, music software, etc.

Basic upgrade is just the core thing. It just simply installs an operating system. With this one, you're just buying Windows, and that's that. You will either find your own programs or if you're fortunate, just carry on with the system you upgraded. If you have a new computer and you're a novice user, I'd advise against this one.

Basically, it's like how the Xbox and PS3 came out with full and core versions.