Applications that work with Vista should work with Windows 7 , there are exceptions.

Applications that work with Vista should work with Windows 7 , there are exceptions.

Microsoft ranks Windows 7 features most likely to affect app-compatibility | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

While Microsoft officials have said that applications that work with Vista should work with Windows 7 , there are exceptions.

The 45-page “Windows Application Quality Cookbook” (Version 0.9 of which Microsoft released for download on November 3 on its Microsoft Developer Network site) itemizes some of these potential gotchas in the hopes of getting developers to head off problems sooner rather than later.

Even though compatibility between Vista/Windows Server 2008 and their successors will be “high,” according to the Softies, it won’t be 100%. From the Cookbook intro:

“While Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (a k a Windows 7 Server) are highly compatible with most of their respective applications written for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and their service packs, some compatibility breaks are inevitable due to innovations, security tightening, and increased reliability.”

The Cookbook itemizes new features and changes to the Windows 7 operating system (both client and server) that are most likely to affect application compatibility. It ranks these changes from highest to lowest (in terms of severity and frequency) on their potential impact.

On Microsoft’s list of Windows 7 changes most likely to affect application compatibility (ordered from highest likelihood of impact on down):

Internet Explorer 8—User Agent String
Internet Explorer 8—Data Execution Protection/NX
Removal of Windows Mail
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)—Removal of Windows 2000 Client Support Service
Compatibility — Operating System Versioning
Server Core — WoW64 Is Now an Optional Feature
User Interface—Enhanced Taskbar
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)—Improved Queue Handling
Windows Server — Terminal Services
User Interface — High DPI Awareness
Removal of WPDUSB.SYS Driver for Windows Portable Devices
Server — Hyper-V
Server — 64-Bit Only
File Library Replaces Document Folder
New Binaries—Refactoring
Compatibility—Application Manifest
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)—SHA-2 Is the Default Encryption Algorithm
User Interface—User Access Control Dialog Updates
One point worth repeating when thinking about application compatibility and Windows 7: Applications that weren’t compatible with Vista aren’t going to magically work with 7 (unless the vendors/developers have tweaked them in the past couple of years).

As Microsoft officials and some market researchers have cautioned customers, moving straight from XP to Windows 7 will be as painful from an app-compat standpoint as was moving from XP to Vista. That’s why many pundits have suggested business users who aren’t planning on skipping Vista still run some pilots so they can see just how compatible their apps and drivers are likely to be with Windows 7.

I still occasionally hear from customers that their apps and drivers don’t work with Vista. Are there any classes of custom applications and/or peripherals with which you’re still having app-compat problems?

download the 'cookbook'
WinBeta.org Beta News and Reviews

an excellent source of information for Windows 7 especially for developers

echrada said:

Microsoft ranks Windows 7 features most likely to affect app-compatibility | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

While Microsoft officials have said that applications that work with Vista should work with Windows 7 , there are exceptions.

The 45-page “Windows Application Quality Cookbook” (Version 0.9 of which Microsoft released for download on November 3 on its Microsoft Developer Network site) itemizes some of these potential gotchas in the hopes of getting developers to head off problems sooner rather than later.

an excellent source of information for Windows 7 especially for developers

Click to expand...

Cookbook Address
Windows Application Quality Cookbook - Release: Windows Application Quality Cookbook

Don’t upgrade to Windows 7 … clean install instead! | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com


I’ve just been having a flick through Microsoft’s Windows 7 Application Quality Cookbook (via All About Microsoft) and I’m already certain that those deciding to upgrade tot he OS from XP or Vista are going to be in for a world of hurt unless everything that’s installed is bang up to date come release day - and even then there’s room for problems.

The cookbook is basically a big list of things that are likely to cause people problems when they shift to Windows 7. Here’s the top 11 listed in order of most likely to cause problems:

* Internet Explorer 8 — User Agent String
* Internet Explorer 8 — Data Execution Protection/NX
* Removal of Windows Mail
* Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) — Removal of Windows 2000 Client Support Service
* Compatibility — Operating System Versioning
* Server Core — WoW64 Is Now an Optional Feature
* User Interface — Enhanced Taskbar
* Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) — Improved Queue Handling
* Windows Server — Terminal Services
* User Interface — High DPI Awareness
* Removal of WPDUSB.SYS Driver for Windows Portable Devices

I can see three of these issues being particularly painful to those who choose to upgrade from XP or Vista to Windows 7:

* Internet Explorer 8 — Data Execution Protection/NX
Basically, any add-on that’s not DEP/NX aware is likely to crash the browser. Any and every toolbar or add-on could cause problems, and there’s no guarantee that DEP/NX compatible versions will be available at Windows 7 launch. Anything obsolete or outdated that’s installed it likely to cause users problems.
While for tech-heads that’s unlikely to be a total show-stopper, for your average Joe Sixpack user who relies on IE, this could cut them off from all sources of assistance and make them have to fall back on Microsoft support.
* Compatibility — Operating System Versioning
OS versioning is always a bug-bear. An app that’s otherwise 100% happy with the new OS can be crippled when it comes across an OS version that it’s not expecting.
Again, not disastrous for a tech-savvy user, but could be a real show-stopper for Average Joe.
* Removal of WPDUSB.SYS Driver for Windows Portable Devices
This change to Windows 7 is another gotcha waiting for upgraders. Microsoft has replaced the Windows Vista USB driver stack (WPDUSB.SYS) for Windows Portable Devices with a generic WINUSB.SYS driver. This means that there could be issues surrounding hooking up to Windows Portable Devices using legacy drivers and applications.
Depending on your device and vendor support, a shift to Windows 7 could mean having to replace the device.

Bottom line, these issues mean that doing an in-place upgrade of an OS could be traumatic no matter whether you are starting with XP or Vista. This means that the old rules apply - for the best experience possible, you will need to nuke your existing install and start fresh. You’ll also need to take care installing legacy drivers to make sure that you won’t be introducing problems.

It also seems that if you’ve given Vista a miss in the hope that Windows 7 will offer fewer compatibility issues … well, you might be outta luck.

echrada said:

I’m already certain that those deciding to upgrade tot he OS from XP or Vista are going to be in for a world of hurt

Click to expand...

It's never been a good idea to upgrade instead of a fresh install. Why should this version be any different