My upgrade very simply would not install on my computer without this "loophole," and I wasted hours following the published directions. After two days, when asked what I was supposed to do to install it, the kindly people at Best Buy told me I wasn't supposed to be using the "upgrade," despite that it's clearly labeled to upgrade from XP.

Forum member and dear friend Sharon of sbtablet fame pointed me in the direction of a website (not Microsoft) that explained what I could do with an upgrade that wouldn't upgrade no matter how much space I made on my disk, no matter what I uninstalled or wiped.

I respect Microsoft's rights and prerogatives, but my time has its worth, too, and Microsoft's decision to leave me with an undocumented instruction set wasted too much of it. Add to that all the poorly labeled, insufficiently documented drivers from the OEMs which could only be installed in a certain order, also undocumented, and I'd say I'm truly livid about my upgrade experience.

Contrast that with the couple of hours my wife spent upgrading two computers with Leopard.

I frankly would not have taken on trying to upgrade if Microsoft and my OEM had not rendered my recovery disks unusable because I needed documentation for reinstalling XP that had been stuck onto the back of my computer with sticky paper that had long since fallen off.

I can say that I like Vista, but Microsoft needs a better way to protect themselves, as the process certainly left me cold, or rather boiling. Now imagine what my answer would be to anyone at work who thinks of me as the geek you can talk to, and whether they should take the plunge and upgrade.