Godex International has announced that TEKLYNX has developed and released a set of drivers for the company’s barcode printers. The new Windows 7 drivers enable users of Godex printers to use LabelView, LabelMatrix and Codesoft software with the Godex barcode printer lineup.

New Drivers Are A Good Sign Of Windows 7 Adoption

As with regular printers, it’s generally a good sign when a manufacturer releases new drivers to extend the function of a device to a new operating system. Barcode printers are specialized pieces of equipment, and the availability of Windows 7 drivers is not likely to make a major splash among users who don’t have a barcode printer.

The availability of new Windows 7 drivers for a niche product, however, is a strong positive indication that more users (especially commercial users) are lining up to add Windows 7 to their list of supported operating systems. Unlike Windows Vista, which was a commercial dud, Windows users across the board are moving toward Windows 7 adoption.

With the advent of the new fiscal year, we should begin to see the many organizations that time their upgrades to budget cycles start moving toward Windows 7. The fact that Windows 7 doesn’t make major hardware demands on PCs, plus the added benefit of the Windows XP emulation mode, should make migration an easy decision.

Despite Microsoft’s best efforts, however, the question of driver availability, especially for older hardware and niche products is still open. If manufacturers and software publishers create a broad range of drivers for older and uncommon hardware, and if Microsoft can deliver on its promise of stability – so far it has – Windows 7 is likely to experience the wide adoption that Windows XP did.

For the remainder of 2010, users should expect to see additional driver rollouts for older hardware and niche hardware. Until the Great Driver Migration is complete, however, some users will be engaged in a “chicken and egg” conundrum: “I’ll upgrade if the drivers are available” will do battle with “We’ll write drivers only if we see a lot of people upgrading to Windows 7.”

Once Windows 7 has been on the shelf for a year, it’s unlikely that a large number of new drivers will enter the market. Instead, manufacturers will carry Windows 7 support forward in their product line, but won’t likely look backward, even for some of their more popular legacy products.

Photo Credit: Manuel, via Flickr