Expand/Collapse “Given the economic climate, why should I invest in Windows 7
   Professional today?”

Investing in the Windows® 7 Professional operating system can bring long-term value to your business, while helping your workers be more productive—at home, at work, and on the road. New PCs with Windows 7 Professional are designed to be faster, more reliable, more secure, and easier to use than older PCs running Windows XP or the Windows Vista®. More sophisticated networking and mobility features help mobile workers access their computer programs, files, and network resources away from the office. PCs with Windows 7 Professional can do more to protect your valuable business and customer data. At the same time, compatibility features let you run many of the applications and devices you use today—including applications for Windows XP.

Expand/Collapse “How is Windows 7 better than Windows XP?”

Windows 7 Professional is easier to use, more reliable, more secure, and faster than Windows XP. Windows XP is nearly a decade old, with limited support for new hardware and software. On the other hand, Windows 7 Professional has been specifically designed to meet the growing demands of modern technology users with more sophisticated networking, mobility, entertainment, data protection, and compatibility features. And with Windows XP Mode,* you get the compatibility of Windows XP in Windows 7 Professional.

Expand/Collapse “How is Windows 7 Professional better than Windows Vista?”

First and foremost, we strengthened fundamentals around performance, reliability, and security. We improved ease of use through user interface (UI) improvements, better wireless networking, and more comprehensive (and comprehensible) troubleshooting. We added Windows XP Mode,* giving businesses the option to extend the life of older productivity applications by running them in a virtual Windows XP environment. And we made it easier to make the transition between work and home with features like Remote Desktop Host.

Expand/Collapse “Will my legacy applications work with Windows 7 Professional?”

Windows 7 was designed to be natively compatible with software, hardware, and devices. This was a core part of the development, and many customers and partners have already known for themselves that it just works. In some cases, certain applications may not work with Windows 7. In this case, we recommend that your business customers use Windows XP Mode,* a valuable transition tool that lets you run many older Windows XP applications from the Windows 7 desktop. Windows XP Mode is easy to find and access from either the Start menu or the Windows 7 taskbar. In this way, we have worked to make sure that your customer’s experience moving to Windows 7 Professional is as easy as possible.

Expand/Collapse “Why do I need a new PC when my old one may run
   Windows 7 Professional?”

New PCs are designed to get the most out of Windows 7 in ways that older PCs simply can’t handle. Windows 7 Professional is preinstalled, preconfigured, and fully supported on a new PC, which helps to maximize performance for faster startup, shutdown, and Web browsing. New PCs are also optimized for the latest peripheral software and mobility devices—supporting multitouch functionality, all your wireless devices, Blu-ray, WiMAX, digital tuners, and much more. And with the improved battery life, you can keep going longer without having to stop and connect.

Expand/Collapse “Why choose Windows 7 Professional over Windows 7
   Home Premium?”

With Windows 7 Professional, all of the home and entertainment features of Windows 7 Home Premium are included, as well as key business features. This gives business users the experience that they are looking for in a PC. Windows XP Mode gives business customers the compatibility they may need to run older Window XP applications. Access documents and programs on a computer remotely from another computer with Remote Desktop Host or schedule a periodic backup to save your data or an entire system image to a network location or a local drive with Advance Backup. And Location-Aware Printing detects whether you’re at work or at home—automatically sending your documents to the right printer.

Expand/Collapse “How much time do I need to invest to learn how to use it?”

Using Windows 7 Professional is intuitive and easy. Everyday tasks have been streamlined and simplified—with commonly used resources put within easy reach and clutter minimized on the desktop. UI improvements make finding things easy— simply type a few letters in the search box, and documents, applications, or even menus appear in seconds, from either your hard drive or network. Easily access programs you use the most with one click by pinning them on your taskbar. Or with a simple keystroke, you can minimize or maximize windows or arrange them side by side.

*Windows XP Mode requires either original equipment manufacturer (OEM) preinstallation or postpurchase installation of Windows XP Mode (which runs on Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate) or a virtualization technology such as Windows Virtual PC. Windows XP Mode requires a PC with 2 GB RAM (32-bit) or 3 GB RAM (64-bit), 15 GB available disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization, with Intel VT or AMD-V turned on. Both Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc. For more information on system requirements, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc.