Let's put it tis way...
I have THREE working computers at the moment, and one that is an XP box a friend is supposed to be buying that is ready to go and not capable of going past 7.
I have three monitors, two that are semi-flaky (not enough Crisco man) and I can get one back up okay for now by turning it off again a few times as it sits there are blinks for a fraction of a second during startup, yet the on screen display says Monitor going to sleep without any problems. I suspect something drifting out of spec there and it's on Valerie, the other Micron that is still up at the moment. It's an HP vf15 small standard aspect, the third is an Envision 15"? standard aspect.
So that leaves me with a Gateway using Vista/IE 9 and a dual core Pentium 2.60 GHz that I'd love to use a 64 bit builder's disc for 7 on but for the licensing costing me 150 dollars at the computer shop.
Now, I can troubleshoot monitor problems and video card troubles to a point...and I can reset IE and build back up with some thought but I've got my best computer sitting here waiting to be hogtied by a download that could be handled by a DVD in under an hour regarding the installation, and be done within the day for updating (especially with 7), and I could do that with 4 computers at once.
FREE is not really free if it takes so much time. You're still talking about the same thing no matter which download option you take. Not everyone has the kind of speed that would make this DL comparable to a DVD install. It would seem like 14.4 kbps to some of us. And I haven't really heard a lot about any Blu-Ray ROM discs, which would seem to make for a lot easier and faster loading, IF you could place separate data streams on each layer and multiplex the read.
There are more twists and turns, misinformation and DISinformation out there than it seems to be worth at some times. No wonder it just confuses and vexes so many. No doubt it feels like being taken by a unethical mechanic or a quack to some of them. A computer is a box to them, like a car.