You want to know why Windows 7 isn’t going to be another Vista? Here’s one big reason: drivers. This time, hardware makers seem to be keeping pace with the operating system and the hardware.
Case in point: I’ve spent the past three months collecting detailed reports about 10 systems I’ve been using to test-drive the final version of Windows 7. One is a Dell Studio XPS 13 notebook. It’s sleek, fast, and good looking, with some little touches that I’ve really come to like: an illuminated keyboard and automatic logon via facial recognition. But it has also suffered from one nagging issue that other owners of this machine have complained about as well. After resuming from sleep, the wired network connection refuses to work and stays on strike until a restart. The touchpad also occasionally works in erratic fashion, with some pointer movements jittering across the screen.
So I was very pleasantly surprised today when I logged onto Dell’s support site, selected this model from my systems list, and saw a new Windows 7 x64 category. Even better, the available downloads include a new BIOS, date-stamped September 16, and new drivers for the Nvidia chipset, dated today. There are also new drivers (just released yesterday) for the IDT audio subsystem and for the Synaptics touchpad. The QuickSet software that enables hardware buttons has an August date stamp. (There’s no update yet for the Nvidia Nforce network adapter, so I used the Vista x64 model instead.)
More...........The single biggest reason why Windows 7 won't be another Vista | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
Case in point: I’ve spent the past three months collecting detailed reports about 10 systems I’ve been using to test-drive the final version of Windows 7. One is a Dell Studio XPS 13 notebook. It’s sleek, fast, and good looking, with some little touches that I’ve really come to like: an illuminated keyboard and automatic logon via facial recognition. But it has also suffered from one nagging issue that other owners of this machine have complained about as well. After resuming from sleep, the wired network connection refuses to work and stays on strike until a restart. The touchpad also occasionally works in erratic fashion, with some pointer movements jittering across the screen.
So I was very pleasantly surprised today when I logged onto Dell’s support site, selected this model from my systems list, and saw a new Windows 7 x64 category. Even better, the available downloads include a new BIOS, date-stamped September 16, and new drivers for the Nvidia chipset, dated today. There are also new drivers (just released yesterday) for the IDT audio subsystem and for the Synaptics touchpad. The QuickSet software that enables hardware buttons has an August date stamp. (There’s no update yet for the Nvidia Nforce network adapter, so I used the Vista x64 model instead.)
More...........The single biggest reason why Windows 7 won't be another Vista | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
