Windows 7 may not work on your computer
Windows 7 launch will make Vista look like heaven
Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, August 10, 2009, updated August 12th, 2009
Microsoft is ramping up the hype machine for Windows 7. The reality when we try to make it work with existing hardware will disappoint many people. M-Audio will not be ready with drivers until next year.
Users converting any non-certified hardware will have to check for drivers first and convert second. The improvements over Vista or XP will be an illusion in reality.
Microsoft, Dell and other manufacturers want us to jump on the Windows 7 bandwagon to get computer sales rolling again. The media fall right into line since most of them want the freebies Microsoft doles out to people who say nice things about them.
M-Audio Windows 7 drivers, only a few are in beta
The Windows 7 juggernaut will be a consumer frenzy that will disappoint anyone who isn’t buying all new and Windows 7 certified hardware and software.
M-Audio not ready for Windows 7
I was searching last night for Vista 64-bit drivers for an M-Audio midi device. According to M-Audio there aren’t any and Vista doesn’t like the device. I’ll have to plug the midi port into my older XP computer.
M-Audio one of the major manufacturers of midi, Firewire and USB audio devices is not ready to ship Windows 7 product.
M-Audio is a large company that makes things work in PC’s but only one of many. The reality is device drivers for the less popular items may be two years out and some will never ship. Before Windows can work with devices from video and network cards to printers and other things we hand off the computer, the operating system needs a piece of software code that translates the action into Windows acceptable standards.
“In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device.
A driver typically communicates with the device through the computer bus or communications subsystem to which the hardware is connected. When a calling program invokes a routine in the driver, the driver issues commands to the device. Once the device sends data back to the driver, the driver may invoke routines in the original calling program. Drivers are hardware-dependent and operating-system-specific. They usually provide the interrupt handling required for any necessary asynchronous time-dependent hardware interface.” Wikipedia
No one can force the manufacturer of a card, printer, scanner or software to provide new drivers. They do it after shipping drivers for the never-ending stream of new products. Ask users of Mackie’s Firewire card who waited impatiently for several years to get their Vista firewire device drivers.
Hardware manufacturers who are not the “big boys” will contract out device driver development to a third party. That not only slows down the process by guarantees the driver will not be supported forever. Those relationships often end with the driver and hardware device falling behind the technology curve.
Apogee, who make sound cards and I/O devices for recording with a computer, announced recently they were not doing any further development on the Windows operating system. Users of Apogee products on Windows computers will find themselves abandoned before long. MacDailyNews That’s how companies build trust.
Corporate users
Corporate IT purchases will pass on Windows 7 for at least the first year. They have been burned before my Microsoft’s long list of promises and short delivery.
Upgrades will slow
Unless you are purchasing a new computer with new Windows 7 approved devices like a printer, many things will not work.
When we tested the final code, the video card on one computer didn’t work with all software. The NVidia drivers were in beta.
On another computer, a printer and scanner wouldn’t work.
Neither Adobe Premier or Photoshop worked.
Sonar wasn’t compatible and the Firewire drivers weren’t available.
This is not unusual. The complaints about Vista mainly centred on first release bugs, the different interface and lack of drivers. SP1 fixed most of the bugs. We got used to the interface and most programs have drivers. Not all though.
Caveat emptor for computer buyers. Check all drivers first before upgrading any operating system.
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Jon Majors
What build did you “test”? RC1 or RTM 7600.16385? Good call on listing the hardware model numbers.
Your “Caveat emptor” doesn’t apply here: just because a manufacturer release Vista or 7 drivers doesn’t mean they’re reliable or stable. Do you really think the majority of your readership know what the hell a driver even is?
DataCabbitKSW
Honestly I think that you are placing he blame at the wrong people’s feet. Is it Microsoft’s fault that M-Audio has not developed proper certified drivers for Windows 7 or even Vista drivers? Vista has been out for longer than two years. Windows 7 can work with Windows Vista drivers should there be none available that are specific to Windows 7. However, if there are no drivers for a particular piece of equipment for either Vista or 7 can be laid at the feet of the device or chipset manufacturer. No drivers in two years, not even uncertified ones?
As to your other issues: Adobe Premier, Flash, Photoshop is working just fine for me under Windows 7 RC x64. The NVidia drivers are currently WHQL certified and available quite readily. I had a USB WiFi adapter one scanner that did have Vista drivers available but not 7 specific ones. I installed the Vista ones and they worked just fine. I had a really old webcam where its support was long since dropped back in the days of Windows 2000. I got it working using the Virtual XP mode, and it seems to work just fine.
If you are really having so many issues, then you may want to post about your issues over to Microsoft’s official Windows 7 RC Support Forum located here http://tinyurl.com/9fhdl5 . The developers and engineers are on there and usually give pretty quick responses. They also usually have inside contacts with many hardware manufacturers.