philo wrote:



first off...
a direct upgrade of win98 to XP *can* certainly work...
but it is less likely to.


Again, what documentation or evidence can you provide to support this
claim? *Why* is it less likely to work? Nothing you've said below even
applies.


win9x opertating systems
are quite different from NT-based operating systems


Obviously.


and only *rarely* would use the same drivers.


That should read "never..."


and yes, the drivers are supposed to be replaced during an upgrade...


Not only "supposed to be," but have to be, if the device is to work
under the new operating system. WinXP won't even attempt to use the
Win9x device drivers, even if the files do remain on the hard drive.
The worst problem the Win9x drivers can cause is a the waste of a small
amount of hard drive space.


but in actual practice there are often compromises made that leave one with
an unsatable
system



"Unsatable?" Does an upgrade somehow make the computer hungry? (And
the correct word would be "insatiable.") If you mean "unstable," this
would occur only if the original OS were problematic to start with, if
other installed applications were incompatible with the new OS, or if
the hardware platform were incompatible, defective, or sub-standard.


to upgrade win95 to win98 for example is quite safe



Assuming there are no problems with the original OS, that all of the
Win95 device drivers were compatible with Win98 (which was often not the
case, if memory serves), other installed applications were compatible
with the new OS, and if the hardware platform is compatible,
non-defective, and not sub-standard, and there is no malware installed.


to upgrade win2k to XP is quite safe...



Again, assuming there are no problems with the original OS, that all of
the Win2K device drivers were compatible with WinXP (or were replaced by
WinXP-specific drivers), other installed applications were compatible
with the new OS, and if the hardware platform is compatible,
non-defective, and not sub-standard, and there is no malware installed.

Do you notice a trend, yet? Any upgrade can be problem-free, if the
underlying hardware is fully compatible with the new OS, if the existing
applications are fully compatible, and if the computer user properly
prepares and plans for the upgrade. Conversely, any upgrade over a
problematic OS, onto incompatible, defective, or sub-standard hardware
is likely to fail.


but it's not a good practice to attempt an upgrade from a win9x based OS to
an NT based OS


Again, can you produce any industry white-papers to this affect? On
what do you base your opinion?



FWIW: i have done well over 500 installations (of various operating
systems... not all microsoft)


Relevance? What percentage of these were properly prepared and
performed upgrades? What percentage were ill-prepared and poorly
performed upgrades? What, specifically, went "wrong" in the majority of
cases? What single common factor applies universally, to lead you to
summarily conclude that all upgrades are "bad?"


for people over the last few years and have just wasted too much time
attempting to repair
bad upgrades!


Well, obviously, an improperly performed upgrade can cause problems.
But how many properly executed upgrades have caused problems, though?




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