The last time I bought a wireless network adapter was right when Vista was released, because the one I’d been using for XP wasn’t Vista compatible. I find myself in the market for a new one, and I’m worried about compatibility issues with Windows 7. I’m not sure I’m going to be buying Windows 7 as soon as it’s released, but I imagine I’ll have it by this time next year, anyway.
Is there any way to determine what network adapters will work with the new version of windows? I know there are people using the beta version of 7 but would the fact that they’re using a given adapter without problems now be a good indicator that it will work with the commercial release of the new operating system, or is there a danger that the system will be so tweaked by the official release that the data from the current version might not be accurate?
>or is there a danger that the system will be so tweaked by the official release that the data from the current version might not be accurate?
Absolutely not. The beta I have is not very different. The driver model would be the last thing to change. If the driver exists for beta you can be 99.99999% sure it will work on the current release.
FWIW, I have an old laptop for Windows7 with an old linksys wireless card. I put it in and it found a driver. No fuss, no muss. The laptop must be 5 or 6 years old and the card just as old.
Lastly, my understanding is that the driver model is no different than Vista, so if it has Vista support there’s a good chance it will work on 7.
My personal theory is that Microsoft’s “Windows Mojave” marketing campaign wasn`t really an advertisement, it was a trial run to see if they could really trick people just by renaming Vista. After a successful test, they decided to wait a year or two before repackaging Vista as Windows 7 and telling everyone it’s a different OS. I haven’t really used the release candidate more than to look at it and open a few windows but it looks exactly like Vista to me.
To add something to the discussion though - why don’t you contact the manufacturer and ask them if it will work on Windows 7? I haven`t used it extensively, but the reason we have it at all is so other people can extensively test our hardware on it. It’s no absolute guarantee that it will work on the final release, but if you e-mailed me and asked if our products will work on Windows 7 we’d say “we’ve tested them extensively on the latest releast candidate and they work. Once the OS is officially released we’ll test more and announce official support or fix our drivers so it does work”. So maybe you should just ask the manufacturer?
I wonder how you define “exactly.” There’s tons of changes to the UI, much lower hardware requirements, many changes to included software packages, and just a general rejiggering and reordering of things.
7’s not revolutionary for everything – it’s very much an evolution of Vista. But it’s also very much a new OS. More importantly, it’s also better than XP in pretty much every way, unlike Vista (which improved in some respects and stepped back in others).
As for the OP – what I’ve generally heard is that stuff that works in Vista generally works in 7. So any adapter that works in Vista will probably be fine.
7 really isn’t a new OS, even though Microsoft is hyping it up to be.
Here’s how Windows identifies itself, which makes the picture a little more clear:
Windows NT 4.0 = NT 4.0
Windows 2000 = NT 5.0
Windows XP = NT 5.1
Windows Vista = NT 6.0
Windows 7 = NT 6.1
XP, despite being hyped as a whole new OS, was just a facelift to 2000. It looked dramatically different, but underneath the hood there were very few changes.
7 is the same way. Basically, they took Vista and fixed everything that people were complaining about.
Your major compatibility problems come when you change major version numbers (NT 5 to NT 6, for example). Most software, drivers, etc. work fine between minor version numbers (NT 6.0 to 6.1 for example). If you have a 2000 compatible driver, it will probably work for XP. It’s not so likely to work for Vista or 7. It’s the same thing if you have a Vista driver. Chances are it will work just fine for 7, since you are only changing minor version numbers.
Since 7 is in many ways just a huge bug fix for Vista, the OP’s wireless adapter will probably work as well if not better than it did under Vista.
>they decided to wait a year or two before repackaging Vista as Windows 7 and telling everyone it’s a different OS.
Its a point of philosophical musings on what a “new OS” is. Its all built on the same NT kernel. The APIs are different and software written for Vista or XP are not guaranteed to run. Drivers for XP sure as heck wont run.
Its as much as OS as 2000 to XP. Microsoft deciding to do a point kernel release as opposed to a new number doesnt make much difference. I think in the end the peopel complaining about this arent interested in the minutia of kernel releases but are just repeating the tired tropes about Microsoft ripping them off. This time its because win7 is just Vista with a couple tweaks. Err, no. Its as much a new product as any software out there.
I’ll let you in on a secret. In the world of software, we are always reusing code. We dont usually sit down and rewrite everything. Not to mention, we can redo the insides and keep the same UI. Look at NT4 and Win95. To the layperson its the same thing. All the widgets look alike. In real life, its two completely different OSs.
Not to mention it would be crazy to toss out the entire NT codebase and start from scratch because the loudmouth linux kiddies arent happy (as if they ever are). Heck, where are all the long winded complaints that the new ubuntu isnt really new because its not a full kernel version change? crickets Or that Snow Leopard is just a point release, not much different than what MS calls a service pack. more circkets Lets not have an artificually high standard so we can continue the vista bellyaching.
Yes, Vista to 7 is not as much as a change as say 98 to 2000 or 3.1 to 95, but so what? Its not a big conspiracy. Its a software product. If you like it, buy it. If you dont like it, buy something else. Delivering anti-MS rants isnt helping anyone.
Thanks, Folks. I ordered one today that people report work with Windows 7. Now to just deal with the one I have now overheating constantly for up to the next two weeks…