It shouldn’t surprise many testers that Microsoft has shrewdly closed the upgrade channel for users who will — probably sooner this year than later — be making the switch to Windows 7. Many who had chosen to steer clear of Windows Vista and hang on to Windows XP — by all rights, a decent operating system, at least for Service Pack 3 users — are pondering the nightmare scenario of having to upgrade to and validate (which usually means, pay for) both Vista and Windows 7, if it so happens that Windows 7 proves to be desirable or simply necessary.

This led us to thinking: Windows Vista can run without being purchased and activated, albeit for a limited time (usually 30 days). During that time, it behaves as though it were a fully operational trial edition (except for the Ultimate SKU, where several of the "Extras" aren’t available except after validating). But it doesn’t take a month to install an operating system; so what if a valid XP user could simply borrow the promotional edition of Vista, if you will, to make the skip over to Windows 7?

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