This is very good news; it was no secert that Application Compatibility and Driver Framework were going to be the two biggest hurdles at launch. Lets see how things shape up Q1 2010 and beyond

The first thing I looked at when getting the beta builds on was finding out what would run on 7. This only further confirms what I found there and later with the RCs about getting old stuff to go on 7 far easier then seen with Vista! The troubleshoot compatibility tool now seen in the right click menu can help a great deal for installer exe files as well as a programs main executable.

I've mentioned this before about not even needing the new XP Mode since the 32bit 7 will see stubborn installs work out there. That helps for older dvd burning programs that won't work on any virtual machine.

When looking over the lists of softwares, hardwares, and other things you can provide extra information throught a gui process on the MS page also included in the article for 7 compatibility. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/com...?type=Software

If you know a manufacturer's product page for a particular hardware as well as some information you can provide that anomynously without providing any email addresses for MS to look up and update the overall information seen there.

i think it helps its built on top of vista, whereas vista was a whole new way of doing things, technically it should be called something like Windows 6.1 but i guess that doesnt have the same ring to it,

One article I saw yesterday places Vista as having gone in one direction being more secure but "larger in size" there while 7 was steered in a totally different direction to make it more "usable". Out of the box, Win 7 less secure than Vista | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

The one larger improvement many are finding is the less intrusive UAC with a slide to adjust the levels rather then simply seeing a check box option for on or off. The backward compatibility seen in 7 has proven itself to be much better then seen with the previous version there. I hear more compliments from people now seeing things run on 7 that they couldn't get going on Vista!

Between the Obnoxious for many UAC and lack of backward support at times with Vista the title is well suited for the article there. Actually that fits in with the other one at the link there as well since 7 has turned out to be far more let's "User Friendly"!

oh i agree there, so far i have only found one app that wouldnt work with 7, and thats partition magic, but to be fair, thats a very old program now....

All this stuff about the UAC being less intrusive, at default levels it is nearly as intrusive as vista, it just doesnt ask you to triple confirm everything

The default UAC setting can be raised or lowered to the lowest or off while Vista was only the on/off options there. The constant prompts for each little thing in Vista with that on was enough for most to simply turn it off completely while 7 can be lowered. The UAC is mainly for the novice user since the advanced user will generally turn it off in 7 as well as seen with Vista.

One program I use frequently on XP that would not go on the 32bit Vista Home Premium under any circumstance is now on the 32bit 7 Ultimate without a glitch! Believe it or not the updated version of that same program that will go on the 64bit 7 is the one seeing all the problems! Obviously the older XP version was apparently better written there I guess.

I've hearing all the rumors of a supposed 128bit OS but have to take it with a grain of salt! In other words don't simply believe everything you read. Once MS makes any formal announcement of something like this you'll be seeing something a bit more credible.

In actuality we'll still be waiting to see if 7 is the actual last version of Windows to still see a 32bit version of each edition or will the higher end editions be in 64bit only?

For those that still need a 32bit Windows for older hardwares and things like dsl modems/network adapters that ISPs are sssslowwww at keeping updated that might well be a large setup when many there. I ran into that problem with the 64bit until making one change!

As far as a 128bit OS simply look at how many 64bit programs are available now to get an idea of how fast something like that will arrive. Not anytime soon for anything other then program developers. At least most 32bit games and apps will go right on the 64bit 7 without fuss.