MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I've been happily running Windows XP for years and deliberately avoided Vista. However my PC has pretty much been upgraded to the limit (a humble dual core with 2Gb memory) and is starting to play up so a new one is on the cards. I suspect that any pre-built system I buy now will come with Windows 7, which I believe is pretty good. My main concern though is program compatibility as I don't have the funds to update all my software. I guess that Office 2007 should be fine but I also use Macromedia Studio MX (Dreamweaver etc.) which really is getting on a bit and probably beyond my means/justification to upgrade. Is Windows 7 reasonably stable with older software (it seems to be drivers and lower level software that falls over) or are there any decent built in compatibility options? I really don't want to be stuck with a new system and now useable software (although I suppose a dual-boot option might be an idea).
There's a compatibility mode (right-click on the program icon and it's in there) that lets you run older software on newer PCs. I'm running Pro/Desktop (which needs nothing newer than XP) on Win7 without hassles.
I run V6 Macromedia MX on 64 bit Win7 just fine - no need for compatibility mode
I've yet to find anything I care about that doesn't run on Windows 7. That includes stuff that was designed before XP was even a dream.
There's a compatibility mode (right-click on the program icon and it's in there) that lets you run older software on newer PCs.
Only available on Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate editions I believe.
MagicISO was a pain. It wouldn't work and it wouldn't uninstall on windows 7. They've provided an update now which is great.
Also Cisco VPN client 4.6 or below doesn't work but version 5 does.
They're the only two I've had problems with.
I just installed Cubase SE 3 from what, 2005? Worked fine, although the license manager didn't but there was an update on their site.
I upgraded to windows7 and found that my internet modem [wired] wasn't compatable. So, went to Currys/comet and bought an expensive new wireless router [I'd been thinking about going wireless anyway]. I'm not exactly thrilled with the results, I had pretty sh1t download speeds before, now it's not worth watching online video, it's so slow and poor quality. ok, it's probably not really a W7 issue, but I wish I'd stayed with what I had before, even if it meant having a cable plugged in [plugging the 'new' ethernet cable in dosn't seem to speed things up or improve quality for online video watching]. ie. pre upgrade, I could watch a Chris Akrigg video, it might have been a little slow, now it's just as slow to download, or slower, but the added result is lots of big blocks in the picture, making the picture quality really poor, I never had that problem before.
Windows 7 does seem a lot more compatible than many, including muself, were expecting. There is of course the additional "compatibility mode" on the Pro and Ultimate versions which should be a fail safe.
I've been dodging the Windows 7 upgrade for a while too because of similar reasons, in my case though it would just be a new OS, not a new system needed, so slightly cheaper.
Just as an aside, what are the exact specs of your computer? If it's a dual core processor, I'm pretty sure it'll be a recent architecture, so you could probably upgrade the CPU, and put more RAM in the machine, fairly easily. What exactly is it struggling with on your current setup, cos a dual core processor with 2GB of RAM on XP should still be plenty for most things...
Thanks, that's reassuring.
My current system is pretty much at it's max. The ASUS motherboard has 2 DDR slots and will take no more than 1Gb each. I could upgrade my Pentium-D processor to one of the ealier CoreDUO models, but the motherboard doesn't supply the voltages for quad-core models and I think the benefit would be negligable. Add to that the fact that it's an AGP board and so very limited in graphics upgrade potential and I think a new system might be the way to go (and I'd quite like to try some of the newer game releases). Even some fairly entry level models these days seem to come with quad-core and 4Gb plus of memory (I've got a decent soundcard to transfer across and could update the graphics as and when).
I've run W7 since release day pretty much, and Vista for a year or so before that on the same box.
As someone else said, I've yet to find anything of any particular import that doesn't work. I was playing Grim Fandango on it at the weekend.
You don't need to match Office versions to Windows versions (eg, you don't need Office XP just because you've got Windows XP) so whatever version you're running currently should work.
Most major software was updated / patched ages ago. You're more likely to run into 32/64 bit issues, but that's an entirely different conversation. (-:
Oh yeah,
Try running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor on your current box - that should highlight any issues with your current apps.