Okay, here’s the scoop: if you buy an upgrade version of Windows Vista, or use one of the free or reduced cost upgrade coupons that came with the purchase of a computer loaded with Windows XP in the last couple of months, it requires an installed version of Windows on the hard drive. You can still do a fresh install - but you have to tell Vista to erase the hard drive during the installation.

How many people Installing it themselves won’t realize that a fresh install is possible - and get a poorly performing version of Windows as a result? Many people won’t have the experience or won’t have followed the tech press to realize that you can do a fresh install if you do it a certain way - just like many people don’t know or understand what a Repair Installation of Windows 2000/XP is or how to do one.

If I’m doing a fresh install for a customer, this means another 40 minutes to an hour to do the XP install first, then the Vista install. My customer has to pay an extra $50 -$75 because Microsoft is paranoid about people using both the XP and the Vista installations.

What “genius” at Microsoft came up with this plan? The only upgrade of a Microsoft OS already on the hard drive that has EVER gone smoothly for me and resulted in a properly performing computer is the one from Windows 98 to to Windows 98 Second Edition. All others have ended up with instability and weirdness with the computer such that a fresh install of the newer Windows version was eventually done after backing up data.

And hey! Thanks a lot for making my customers spend an extra $50 - $75 on labour - they really appreciate that! Who do I send the bill to - Steve, or Bill? Does ANYONE at Microsoft EVER talk to customers before they come up with these hare-brained schemes?

UPDATE:
There’s a workaround - thanks to Daily TECH:

Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.
When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click “Next” and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.
When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.
Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.
This time, type in your product key when prompted.
When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.
Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.

The workaround works for geeks, but not for my customers - I can just see myself trying to instruct someone how to do the last two steps so that they can save some money on my labour charges… :-(