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

If you upgraded to Microsoft Vista when it was first released, the announcement that a new Windows OS is on the way may not exactly thrill you. When Microsoft Vista was first released, early adopters ran into the unenviable problem of being unable to find drivers for their hardware. Worse, some hardware was labeled “Vista-capable” when it really wasn’t. The overall effect of the troubles led to a large-scale rejection of Windows Vista. Few corporations chose to use it, and home users adopted it only when no other option was available.

Switch to Windows 7 Should Be Smoother

Well, Microsoft was listening and the company promises that the migration to Windows 7 will be much smoother than the switch to Vista was, starting with the hardware drivers. Microsoft is requiring all vendors that use the “Vista Certified” logo to verify that their drivers will also work with Windows 7. There’s no requirement right now that existing drivers work with Windows 7, but manufacturers have only until October 22 to bring their drivers up to snuff, lest they risk losing the Vista Certified label.

Microsoft isn’t willing to tolerate what it believes was the major cause of rejection among potential Vista users when it comes to Windows 7. The company won’t put up with two quick losses, so device drivers are receiving special attention from Redmond.

Among the most important drivers will be the graphics and printer drivers. With graphics drivers, users have the fallback of using generic video drivers to get their displays to work. At one level, that’s good, but it’s not a solution for the long-term. Users don’t have the luxury of relying on a whole stable of generic printer drivers. Printers, especially older ones, will need to receive a little extra attention from their manufacturers if users want to be certain that the printer will survive the switch to Windows 7.

The newest printers report more than just the status of the print spooler. They can also report ink and toner level, remaining drum life, jams, paper outages and more. These features rely on updated drivers. While an older driver may be able to interface the printer to the computer correctly, it may mishandle the information the printer is trying to feed back to the user.

One nice touch that Microsoft has built into the Release Candidate is the ability to report potential driver problems to the company. Microsoft will then notify affected users when an updated driver is available for the user’s hardware.

Microsoft isn’t promising a seamless experience with drivers in Windows 7, but it’s clear that the company is trying to get all of its ducks in a row before the OS hits the streets in October.

Photo Credit: Michael Porter, via Flickr