Instant upgrade for Windows 7

Windows 7 users will get 'instant access' to new features online.

Windows 7 will have a feature called Anytime Upgrade to purportedly allow cheapskate users to cough up for a fuller-featured version of the operating system when they realise most of the bells and whistles they expected don't work.

Techarp is reporting that users will get nearly instant access to new features by buying an upgrade license key with typical download times of between five and fifteen minutes.

Microsoft has not yet finalised pricing or possible upgrade paths, but it seems likely upgrades can either be done incrementally (paying for each step along the way) or in one big jump, for example from Home Basic to Ultimate.

Users will not be able upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit as the license keys don't actually add new content to the installation, they simply unlock bits already in there.

As such, user settings and data are left unaltered by the upgrade, which can be bought either online or from Windows retailers.

Redmond hasn't actually formally announced the feature yet, and isn't likely to until Release Candidates start hitting hard drives later this year.