Microsoft have made available the final version of their upgrade advisor software for Windows 7. You can download it here. The software, which I first saw a few weeks ago in beta, is an excellent tool for checking your hardware and software for compatibility.
In the case of my own PC (see below) it very accurately diagnosed that would and wouldn’t run in Windows 7.
The question I have to ask is why have they taken so long to release this tool? With previous versions of Windows the upgrade checker has been released some time before the launch of the OS, but this time it’s only two days before.
There can only be one answer to this, and it’s driver signing. Microsoft have been pushing software and hardware vendors hard in recent weeks to “Go Green” and make sure their stuff is fully compatible and tested with Windows 7.
Microsoft have been determined that Windows 7 will, out of the box, support a far greater range of hardware than any previous version of the operating system. So it stands to reason they’ve been waiting for the vendors to green light their hardware.
However this stands contrary to Microsoft pushing pre-sales of the OS. Never before have Microsoft pushed pre-sales to consumers, but there have been several offers aimed at consumers where people could buy Windows 7 for £50 or only £30 (for students) if they bought in advance.
How can they pre-sell an operating system without first releasing the tool that will tell people if their computer is capable of running it? The potential problems caused by incompatible software and hardware are exactly what got Vista so much bad press three years ago.
Anyway, if you have pre-ordered Windows 7 I’d recommend you download and run the upgrade checker now, it’s far more accurate than previous versions of the checker.
