I’ve been using Microsoft’s Windows operating system since Windows 3.11 in 1994 and have seen it evolve significantly over the years. The jump from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95 was huge in terms of user interface and features and each release thereafter contained glimpses of genius, including the infamous Windows ME.

Despite Microsoft’s best intentions, 2000’s Windows ME was highly criticised for its instability and possibly trying to change too much too fast. Fast forward just a year later and Microsoft release a new operating system, Windows XP.

With Windows XP, Microsoft really nailed it. Windows XP was relatively stable on its release (compared to Windows 98 and ME at least) and most importantly it was easy-to-use. Another (often overlooked) advantage Windows XP had over previous releases was the rapid uptake of super-fast broadband connections - for the first time it was viable for Microsoft to release significantly sized patches to its operating system with a simple click of the mouse. Windows XP soon had its second ‘service pack’ and computer stability was soon largely taken for granted.

The seemingly never ending uptake of broadband connections continued to push forward the evolution of computing at frightening speeds. One of the biggest changes in modern computing is that the most used software application is no-longer Outlook express, Word or Excel (or Tetris!) but the rather humble web-browser.

Whether your affiliation is toward IE or Firefox, Chrome or Opera - the web browser, in all its simple glory, is slowly becoming the actual operating system itself. There isn’t much you can do on your desktop that you can’t do in your web browser these days - email, writing documents, desktop publishing, spreadsheets (...and Tetris); they’re all there on the internet - and they’re mostly free too.

And this brings to Microsoft’s biggest dilemma – the internet.

With more and more people spending their time staring at the internet through their browser, people are naturally using their operating system less - the need for an operating system its current form is diminishing rapidly.

So why upgrade to Windows 7 for a small fortune? Sure, Windows 7 offers a few shiny new features such as a slightly modified task bar, but if you’re already using Windows Vista it really isn’t that different. Maybe just a little more refined.

If you’re still using Windows XP (which at the time of writing will soon be celebrating its 10^th birthday) – I’d say it’s a safe bet that you’re pretty happy with what you’ve got.

I’ve used both XP and Vista and have ever-so-recently upgraded to Windows 7. My reason for doing so was more related to my I.T career (always looks good on your C.V to keep up with new things) but had I not upgraded, I’d still be quite happy with my installation of Windows XP SP3.

The first thing I do when I change operating system is access the internet through my (Firefox) browser, which was the exact same version as it was on my last operating system.

So is it worth upgrading to Windows 7? I guess it all depends on the situation.

If you’re buying a brand new PC and require a new operating system then I’d happily recommend Windows 7.

However, if you’re happy with what you’ve got and it does everything you need it to do – stick with it and be proud. I can’t see any real justification to throw a bunch of notes at an ‘upgrade’ when the majority of users probably wouldn’t notice a difference.