Wednesday
Aug122009
Improved Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Chart
The original chart (below) is unnecessarily complicated and hard to comprehend. I generally don't post about bad infographics, but in this case Ed was able to re-do Microsoft's chart into the improved, simpler version you see above.
Honestly, the upgrade process is still too complicated and Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves. This deserves a new Mac vs. PC ad just by itself.
Found on Engadget and All Things D.
Here's the official "horrendous" (I don't get to use that word often) chart from Microsoft.
tagged 
charts, design, experience, software
charts, design, experience, software 
Reader Comments (5)
I'm not sure if I agree that the new one is entirely better. If I want to go from Vista to 7 I just want to find my OS on the left, find my desired OS on the top, and read one box. Now you've made me read all the boxes on the left to see if they apply to me and if they do, read across.
Also, what about Windows Vista Starter? You left that information out. If the charts don't have the same amount of information, we can't compare them.
In the article where Ed Bott explains the new chart he created, he did address why he pulled out Starter.
So what’s wrong with this chart? In a word, everything.
First, it includes one entire row dedicated to a product that doesn’t exist: Windows Vista Starter 64-bit edition (Vista Starter is available in 32-bit only). In fact, the entire row for Vista Starter shouldn’t be there, given that it is only offered for sale on very low cost PCs in developing nations and is not sold in the U.S., Western Europe, Australia, Japan, and the rest of the developed world. (In a Twitter exchange, Mossberg confused Vista Starter with Windows 7 Starter and assumed that the former is sold on netbooks. It isn’t.)
"The original chart (below) is unnecessarily complicated and hard to comprehend."
Like everything Microsoft does. Horrendous.