O.S. Upgrades and Home Depot: Why You'll Need a Hammer

Sometimes obvious deficiencies become invisible because they are long-running or prevalent problems. An example of this is how software and hardware suppliers manage operating system upgrades. Within the past three months, three O.S. upgrades have failed for various reasons, and not only Windows (e.g., Vista to Windows 8, or Windows 7 to Windows 8), but also Apple (whose applications don't migrate from some versions when upgraded).

Today this message from HP was a reminder of how pervasive this deficiency is:

If you purchased your computer prior to October 1st , 2011, HP has not tested or developed drivers for your model computer. Therefore an upgrade of your computer may be difficult or impossible.

With a shrinking market for desktop computers, support for O.S. upgrades may get worse, not better.

But, sure -- go ahead and try anyway. 

Now that Home Depot is selling computers, you may as well invest in a new hammer, which you'll want to use on your 18 month old computer when it's time to upgrade the O.S.