Windows 7 beta uses trickery to fix Vista compatibility

rookietrucker · Jan 29, 2009

Microsoft is determined to make Windows 7 a much cleaner upgrade than Vista, even if it has to tell a few lies to do it

January 28, 2009
The latest beta of Windows 7, released to TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers in early January, fixes some significant low-level compatibility issues with software targeted to Windows Vista. Windows 7 does this by masquerading as Vista with software installers and applications that check for a specific Windows version ID before running. This white lie is that the behavior that Microsoft designed is with Windows 7, but which was apparently only partially implemented in builds preceding the latest public beta.

This was brought to my attention when I ran Lenovo's Software Update tool on a ThinkPad X300, the notebook that Microsoft loaned to some attendees of the Windows 7 reviewers' workshop. The original Windows 7 beta that Microsoft pre-loaded on the machines and supplied as a backup on an external USB drive would not install several ThinkPad drivers and utilities. Lenovo's System Update feature, which searches out and installs hardware driver, firmware, and Windows updates, formerly failed to run to completion, in part because it attempted and failed to install several Microsoft updates issued for Vista. A handy administration tool, ThinkVantage Productivity Center, failed to install at all. Audio drivers were among basic peripheral drivers that Lenovo's Software Update couldn't install.

More here>> http://weblog.infoworld.com/yager/archives/2009/01/windows_7_beta.html
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Windows 7 beta uses trickery to fix Vista compatibility

rookietrucker Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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Windows 7 beta uses trickery to fix Vista compatibility

rookietrucker Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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