With Windows 7′s release date just little more than three weeks away, you may be thinking more seriously about whether you’re going to upgrade to the new system when it arrives on store shelves. Microsoft’s track record with OS upgrades has been tarnished lately, and the company is determined not to repeat the same mistakes. One area in which the company took a lot of flack was the unavailability of device drivers for Windows Vista. Microsoft has that in the bag this time, or so they say. Upgraders should expect to find a plethora of drivers available on release day, which should make the process of upgrading smoother.

Upgrading From Windows Vista

If you’re upgrading your system from Windows Vista, you should have a smooth ride. There’s one caveat: if you’re running Windows Vista Home Basic, there’s no upgrade path for you. You’ll need to install the full Windows 7 product. If you’re upgrading from Windows Vista Home Premium, the upgrade to Windows Vista should be relatively easy. Your computer is already very likely to be capable of running Windows 7, and unless you have some very old or very dodgy devices, you should be in luck when it comes to drivers.

If you’re upgrading to Windows 7 from an older version of Windows (like XP), there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Windows 7 contains a virtual environment in which you can run Windows XP. This will work for you if you have an older, irreplaceable piece of hardware or software that must run on XP. When you need to operate it, simply fire up XP virtually and run like the wind. Your XP drivers will work from the XP virtual environment. That won’t be the case if you attempt to run devices using XP drivers from the Windows 7 environment, though.

You’ll also need to verify that your older hardware is in good enough shape to run Windows 7. Microsoft offers a compatibility checking tool that will give your hardware setup the once-over to see if you need to make any hardware modifications before installing Windows 7. Older devices, smaller hard disks and minimum memory requirements are most likely to trip up old hardware.

If your hardware is seriously old… as in Jurassic or Pre-Colombian… you might want to consider just purchasing a low-cost desktop system that comes with Windows 7 already installed. Really old hardware is unlikely to meet the requirements of Windows 7. Even if you can get it to load and run, it’s performance will suffer tremendously and you’re not likely to reap the benefits of upgrading your system.

Photo Credit: Kevin Dooley, via Flickr

As October 22 approaches, many PC users are debating whether to upgrade to Windows 7 or to remain where they’re at. A good portion of those users are currently “at” Windows XP, and are mighty happy, thank you very much. Windows XP was introduced in October of 2001 and struck a chord with Windows users. Its functionality, stability and power are all legendary in the hearts and minds of diehard Windows users. These users are least likely to welcome the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7. So what’s the road ahead like for Windows XP users?

Windows XP’s Future Is Only Dimly Lit

Microsoft has made no bones about wanting to kill Windows XP. They’ve issued drop-dead dates for the product at least twice, and the latest kill order will take effect about six months after Windows 7 hits the stores. Users can purchase a double-downgrade license to Windows XP when Windows 7 graces the shelves only for that short window. After that, it’s anyone’s guess as to what happens to XP.
Right now, tech support is available for XP only on a per-call basis. The product is no longer available for sale on store shelves and Microsoft’s ability (and desire) to support the product is waning daily. Eventually, despite the outcry from users, Microsoft will pull the plug on support for the OS, effectively cutting XP users adrift.
Manufacturers will move away from XP support – Microsoft will make it hard for device manufacturers to continue supporting an unsupported OS – and users will no longer be able to get driver support for Windows XP. The big complaint about Windows Vista was that it didn’t make nice with Windows Server 2003. The complainers had a point. Vista’s inability to deal with Active Directory made it largely unsuitable for enterprises that had large AD installations.
Microsoft has addressed that with Windows Server 2008, which is scheduled for production release on October 22, alongside Windows 7. Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 go together like hand-in-glove, and enterprise users won’t have a lot of room to complain about what Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 don’t do. That doesn’t mean that Enterprise is dying to upgrade. It’s not. Upgrading is expensive and the Windows Server 2008/Windows 7 approach means that the average enterprise will have to upgrade both its servers and its desktops to get the benefits.
I strongly suspect that most enterprises will find it very painful to stay with Windows XP as time goes on. Fewer software publishers will provide XP-compatible releases, fewer hardware manufacturers will provide XP compatible drivers and as some enterprises upgrade, the laggards will come under incredible pressure to catch up.

Photo Credit: Surian Soosay, via Flickr

If you’re looking forward to the new release of Windows 7, you should rightly be concerned about drivers for Windows. If you’re like most users, you really don’t know exactly what a driver is or does, and if your computer has the right drivers installed, you may not even realize that you’re using them. (That, by the way, is ideal.)

The Reality Of Windows Drivers

The reality of drivers for computer hardware is a lot more brutal than that. Microsoft makes the Windows operating system but it doesn’t make the drivers that run the hardware people attach to their computers. The hardware manufacturers write those oh-so-necessary drivers. Microsoft will include a few generic drivers that can interface to a degree with hardware that’s more-or-less standard. For example, a VGA display driver is about as vanilla as it gets, and you’ll find a generic 640×480 VGA driver included with the OS that can run a display. It won’t run all of the hardware features that might be built into your monitor, but it can put a picture on a screen.

Hardware manufacturers are responsible for writing new drivers for their hardware. Often, manufacturers write new drivers for their new hardware, and don’t spend much time writing new drivers for their older stuff. They also tend to de-prioritize driver updates for hardware that’s no longer in production. That approach causes problems for the users whose hardware is still in service, even if particular models are no longer sold.

Despite Microsoft’s full-court press on hardware manufacturers to supply updated drivers for their hardware, it’s highly likely that an upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7 will still produce a fair amount of teeth-gnashing when the old hardware doesn’t work with the new system because the manufacturer hasn’t released an updated driver for Windows 7.

This situation really isn’t Microsoft’s fault, but that won’t stop it from taking most of the heat for poor upgrade results. Microsoft intends to fight back, however, and has said that it will withdraw its “Vista-ready” certification for manufacturers who don’t pony up with a Windows 7-compatible driver by Release Date – October 22.

So what hardware is most likely to cause driver problems? The top candidates are hardware that is no longer manufactured, or “orphan” hardware – those products whose manufacturer has gone belly-up or has been taken over by a different company; old hardware – and by “old” I mean more than 2-3 years old; and specialty or low-volume products that never jumped on the Vista bandwagon. Unfortunately, as a consumer, you won’t have a lot of leverage in this case.

Photo Credit: TMAB2003, via Flickr

Window 7 isn’t yet out of the gate for most consumers, and for as much trouble as Microsoft has gone through to ensure a smooth release, Windows 7 is likely to encounter a few bumps and bruises along the way. What’s most likely to take the fun out of your new OS upgrade? The usual suspects – driver problems, hardware incompatibilities, and memory problems.

Older Hardware May Not Work So Well With Windows 7

Microsoft has been working hard to help ensure that the latest drivers are available and compatible with Windows 7, but users who have older hardware may be in for a surprise. Often, manufacturers don’t support older hardware and may not provide an updated driver. And don’t be confused by the term “older.” “Older” could mean hardware that was made in 2007 or 2008.

Generally, if you’re running Windows Vista and you’ve got all of your driver ducks in a row, you’re not likely to experience much in the way of problems. What runs on Vista should for the most part, run on Windows 7. After all, Windows 7 was built on the Vista platform. If you’re running an older version of the OS – like Windows XP or older – all bets are seriously, completely and thoroughly off. You may be able to find a driver from the manufacturer or you may be able to find a third-party driver that interfaces your hardware with Windows 7. If you’re supremely talented, you might be able to write your own driver, but that’s not something for the uninitiated, so that’s not a realistic solution for most people.

Don’t forget that Windows 7 has a built-in Windows XP virtual machine. You can run Windows XP virtually within Windows 7, and in the virtual environment, your old XP drivers will still work. This is probably the most likely workaround for XP fans who adopt Window 7 earlier rather than later.

The issue of signed and unsigned drivers will also continue to cause problems for people who migrate to Windows 7. Basically, a “signed” driver includes information about the author, who swears on a stack of DOS disks that the driver is authentic, hasn’t been altered since it was released and, in theory, works the way it should An “unsigned” driver isn’t as trustworthy – after all, who knows where it came from, right? The idea behind a signed driver is security. If the driver is “signed” it should be unaltered from the original and should be safer. Windows Vista and Windows 7 want signed drivers. You can turn this desire off in the configuration for the computer, but that disables a “security” feature and will open your computer up to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. (Or might, anyway.)
Driver availability will be less of a problem. Microsoft has been working hard since July to ensure that many drivers are available on Zero Day. I believe Windows adopters will be pleasantly surprised by Windows 7, at least in this aspect.

Photo Credit: Jim Crossley, via Flickr