While the official launch date for Microsoft's Windows Vista OS isn't until Tuesday, the web sites for PC makers like Dell and HP are now taking orders for Vista equipped PCs. More PC makers will likely wait until Tuesday to start selling PCs with Vista.

If we are talking about Vista, Microsoft is changing a long-standing tradition when it comes to upgrading from a previous version of Windows. No longer will popping in a disc of a previous version of Windows during setup satisfy the people in Redmond when using an upgrade CD. Microsoft has cut out this process for Windows Vista and forces users who buy an upgrade CD to actually have a valid install of Windows XP Home or Professional on their machines before upgrading.

For most users, this wouldn't be a problem. They more than likely have an existing copy of Windows XP installed and would have no problems upgrading to Windows Vista with an upgrade CD. But for do-it-yourselfers who buy a Vista upgrade CD and think that they can easily perform a clean install whenever they feel free are going to run into the road block. In this case, the road block means that users wanting to perform a clean install with a Vista upgrade CD will have to: 1) Install a genuine copy of Windows XP Home/Professional 2) Activate Windows XP through Microsoft 3) Upgrade to Windows Vista from within Windows XP.

BTW: Are you upgrading to Vista this week? I don't :-D