I've cleared my schedule for the rest of the week. Because I'm upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows XP, maybe I should clear next week's schedule too....

I admit, I'm really excited for the new operating system to be released tomorrow. From everything I've read and heard, it's going to be a great upgrade. In case you're wondering, Legacy Family Tree 7.0 runs just fine in Windows 7.

Two of genealogy's "techies" recently wrote about their experiences with Windows 7 and provided good suggestions about preparing for the upgrade.

Dick Eastman, in his article, "Windows 7: Read Before Upgrading" stated that XP users will have a rocky transition, and I agree. If you have Windows XP (like I do), to install Windows 7 requires that your computer's hard drive be completely reformatted. That's right. This means that you will need to reinstall all of your programs and restore all of your data files after installing the new operating system. I mentioned previously that I don't really mind doing this every once in a while - it gives my computer a fresh start. Dick's article gives good advice about how to best prepare for the upgrade, including making an inventory of the software you will want to reinstall after the upgrade. Read the complete article here.

Marlo Schult, in his article "Windows 7 - The Mystery Unveiled: A Simple Non-Technical Evaluation" wrote about his experiences in installing the evaluation version of Windows 7. To his surprise, it was quicker and less painful than he anticipated. He was happy to report that his software, Heritage Collector Suite, a Legacy add-on program, worked well. Even his old scanner worked. He also wrote about some of his favorite new features. Read the complete article here.

Where will I be tomorrow? I won't be in one of those midnight lines camping out in front of the store. I'll wake up as normal, help get the kids off to school. But as soon as they're gone, I'm headed to the nearest software store. Most people will probably wait a couple of months until any major problems with Windows 7 are resolved. I'll let you know how it goes here.

What will you be doing tomorrow?