I usually take my time before approving new versions of Windows for my clients out of an abundance of caution. Given my own experience and the news coming in from my network of consultants, combined with the almost gushing reaction of the press, I see no reason to wait.

Remember these key points about upgrades and clean installs:

• An in-place upgrade from a 32-bit to a 64-bit version of Windows can not be done. A clean install is required.
• An in-place upgrade is only possible from Vista to Windows 7. Upgrades from XP require a clean install.

If you are using XP, now is the time to start thinking about moving to Win7. Support for XP SP3 will continue for a time, but the original XP and its first two service packs are coming to their end of life in June. If you are not using SP3 and won't be moving to Win7 soon, install SP3 as soon as possible.

I recommend Windows 7 Professional Edition for all business use and for personal use if you have applications that require XP compatibility. Win7Pro's compatibility mode works very well.