These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. Use of included code samples are subject to the terms specified at Microsoft - Information on Terms of Use.
Notes on comments.
Welcome to our blog dedicated to the engineering of Microsoft Windows 7
As most folks (finally) get the beta and start to set aside some time to install and try out Windows 7, we thought it would be a good idea to start to talk about how we support devices through testing and work across the PC ecosystem. This is a big undertaking and one that we take very seriously. As we talked about at the PDC, this is also an area where we learned some things which we want to apply to Engineering Windows 7. While this is a massive effort across the entire Windows organization, Grant George, the VP of Test for the Windows Experience, is taking the lead in authoring this post. We think this is a deep topic and I know folks want to know more so consider this a kick-off for more to come down the road. –Steven
One of the most important responsibilities in a release of Windows is our support of, and compatibility with, all of the devices and their associated drivers that our users have. The abstraction layer in Windows to connect software and hardware is a crucial part of the operating system. That layer is surfaced through our driver model, which provides the interface for all of our partners in the multi-faceted hardware ecosystem. Windows supports a vast range of devices today – audio devices (speakers, headsets…), display devices (monitors…), print, fax and scan devices, connectivity to digital cameras, portable media devices of all shapes, sizes and functions, and more. Windows is an open platform for companies across the globe who develop and deliver these devices to the marketplace and our users – and our job is to make sure we understand that ecosystem and those choices and verify those devices and drivers work well for our customers – which includes partnering with those device providers throughout the engineering of Windows7.
Drivers provide the interface between a device and the Windows operating system – and are citizens of the WDM (Windows Driver Model). WDM was initially created as an intermediary layer of kernel mode drivers to ease the authoring of drivers for Windows. There are different types of drivers. Class drivers (which are hardware device drivers that supports an array of devices of a similar hardware class where hardware manufacturers make their products compatible with standard protocols for interaction with the operating system) and device-specific drivers (provided by the device manufacturer for a specific device and sometimes a specific version of that device) are the two most common.
Support for our hardware partners comes in the form of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and for certification, the Windows Logo Kit (WLK). The WDK enables the development of device drivers and as of Vista replaced the previous Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK). The WDK contains all of the DDK components plus Windows Driver Foundation (WDF) and the Installable File System kit (IFS). The Driver Test Manager (DTM) is another component here, but is separate from the WDK. The Windows Logo Kit (WLK) aids in certifying devices for Windows (it contains automated tests as well as a run-time framework for those tests). These tests are run and passed by our hardware vendor partners in order to use the Microsoft “Designed for Windows™” logo on devices. This certification process helps us and our hardware partners ensure a specific level of quality and compatibility for devices interacting with the Windows operating system. Hardware devices and drivers that pass the logo kits tests qualify for the Windows logo, driver distribution on Windows Update, and can be referenced in the online Windows Marketplace.
With Windows 7 we have modified driver model validation, new and legacy device testing, and driver testing. Compared to Vista, we now place much more emphasis on validating the driver platform and verifying legacy devices and their associated drivers throughout our product engineering cycle. Data based on installed base for each device represents an integral part of testing, and we gather this data from a variety of sources including the voluntary, opt-in, anonymous telemetry in addition to sources such as sales data and IHV roadmaps. We have centralized and standardized the testing mechanics of the lab approach to this area of the product in a way that yields much earlier issue/bug discovery than in past releases. We have also ramped up our efforts to communicate platform or interface changes earlier with our external hardware partners to help them ensure their test cycles align with our schedule. In addition, we draw a more robust correlation between the real-world usage data, including recent trends, and prominence of each device and the prioritization it is given in our test labs. This is especially important for new and emerging devices that will come to market right before and just after we release Windows 7 to our customers.
Another important element in bringing a high quality experience to our Windows 7 users in device and driver connectivity and capability is the staging of our overall engineering process in Windows 7. For this release all of our engineering teams have followed a well structured and staged development process. The development/coding of new features and capabilities in Windows 7 was broken out in to 3 distinct phases (milestones) with dedicated integration and stabilization time at the end of each of these three coding phases. This included ensuring our code base remained highly stable throughout the development of Windows 7 and that our device and driver test validation was a constant part of those milestones. Larry discussed this in his post as some might recall. Program Managers, Developers and Testers all worked in super close partnership throughout the coding phases. Our work with external partners – especially our device manufacturer partners – was also enhanced through early forums we provided for them to learn about the changes in Windows 7 and also work closely with us on validation. Much more focus has been put on planning and then executing - planning the work and then working the plan. Our belief is that this yields much more predictability to developing and delivering our new features in Windows 7 both from a feature content and overall schedule standpoint. We recognize that this raised the bar on how our external partners see us execute and deliver on that plan when we say we will, but we also hope it increases their confidence in how they engage with us in validating the device experience during our development and delivery of Windows 7.
Our program management team helps us drive device market share analysis. Most of their data comes from our Customer Experience Improvement Program. This gives us data on the actual hardware in use across our customer base. For example there are over 16,000 unique 4-part hardware IDs for display devices alone. Like many things, we understand that it only takes a single device not functioning well to degrade an overall Windows experience or upgrade—we definitely want to re-enforce this shared understanding.
New devices typically have a small initial user base, but the driver will often be mostly new code (or the first time a code-base has seen a new device). As the device enters the mainstream, market share grows and most manufacturers continue to develop and improve their drivers. This is where for our customers, and our own testing, it’s important to always have the latest drivers for a given device.
Over a device’s lifetime, we work closely with our external device partners and represent as faithfully as possible in our test labs, a prioritized way of ensuring old and new devices continue to work well with Windows. By paying very close attention to trends in the market place across our device classes, we can make guided decisions in the context of these areas:
Another benefit of close market tracking is creating an equivalence-based view of a device family.
We use the notion of equivalence classes to help us define and prioritize our hardware (device) test matrix. Creating equivalence classes involves grouping things into sets based on equivalent properties across related devices. For example, imagine if we worked for a chemical company and it was our job to test a car polish additive on actual automobiles. Given a fixed test budget, we would want to maximize the number of makes and models we test our product on. We begin by analyzing the current market space so we can make the best choices for our test matrix.
Let’s say the first test car we analyze is a blue 2003 Ford Mustang. We also know that the same blue paint is used on all of Ford’s 2003 and 2004 models and is also used on all of Mazda’s 2005 models. This means our first automobile represents several entries in our table based on equivalence:
Test ID
Make
Model
Color
Year
1
Ford
Mustang
Blue
2003
2
*
2004
3
Mazda
2005
Now let’s look at a silver 2001 Mercedes C240. We know that Mercedes and Chrysler have a relationship and upon further investigation we find Chrysler used the same silver paint on their 2006 through 2009 models. Now our equivalence class based test matrix looks like this:
4
Mercedes
C240
Silver
2001
5
Chrysler
2006
6
2007
7
2008
8
2009
By carefully analyzing each actual automobile, we have established an equivalence relationship that we can leverage to maximize implicit test coverage. Testing one make and model is theoretically equivalent to testing many. Of course we recognize in the real world different companies might use different techniques for applying paint, as one variable, so there are subtleties that require additional information to property class attributes for testing purposes.
Testing computer devices is very similar. Even though there are thousands of different devices on the market, many of them share major components, are die-shrinks of a previous revision, or differ only in terms of memory, clock-rate, pixel count, connector, or even the type of heat sink. Take for example display devices. There are over 16,000 display devices on the market. But the equivalence view reveals that 90% of the market is represented by about 60 different GPUs. By adding a few more to a carefully constructed test matrix based on equivalence it is possible to represent over 99% of all GPUs. Driver writers also leverage equivalence by targeting drivers at a range of hardware. Driver install packages indicate devices they support via hardware IDs.
All modern computer devices are assigned a unique hardware ID based on the device vendor, type, and class. Most IDs (PCI, PC Card, USB, and IEEE 1394 devices) are assigned by the industry standards body associated with that device type.
Let’s look at the device ID of my display adapter:
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0611&SUBSYS_C8013842&REV_A2
If I visit PCI-SIG (the standards body associated with all PCI device ID assignment) and do a search on 10DE, I’m told I this is an NVidia PCI ID. If I look further on my system in
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository
I can find NVidia drivers (folders that start with nv_lh). If I open one of the driver .INF files on my machine I see this tell-tale line:
NVIDIA_G92.DEV_0611.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT”
Further inspection of the driver .INF file tells me that the same G92 GPU is used for all of these devices:
A bit of online research reveals other interesting information: “The 8800 GT, codenamed G92, was released on October 29, 2007. The card is the first to transition to 65 nm process, and supports PCI-Express 2.0.[13] It has a single-slot cooler as opposed to the double slot cooler on the 8800 GTS and GTX, and uses less power than GTS and GTX due to its 65 nm process.” -WikiPedia
So in theory, if I was to run a test on my display adapter, there’s a good chance I’d get the same results as I would on any of these other related devices.
One of our primary goals for Windows 7 is compatibility with all Vista certified drivers and to ensure that people have a seamless upgrade experience. This breaks down into several requirements that guide how we test:
One question we are asked about quite a bit is the availability of drivers. There are three primary reasons drivers end up looking for folks: clean installation of Windows, attaching device to a new computer, wanting the updated driver. We definitely recognize that for the readers of this blog, both as enthusiasts and often the support/IT infrastructure for corporations, friends, and families, that the ability to acquire drivers and reliably update machines is something of a “hobby” we all love to hate. We all want the latest and greatest—no more and no less.
A clean installation is one we are all definitely valuing during the beta phase of Windows 7. It should be clear that a clean install, as important as it is to many of us, is not a routine/mainstream experience. Nevertheless, the combination of in-box drivers and those available via Windows Update will serve a very broad set of PCs (for example, you should see most of the drivers installed for the new Atom-based machines if you do a clean install). On the other hand, some drivers for PCs are only available from the PC maker and for a variety of reasons are not available for download from Windows Update or even the device manufacturer’s site. For example, mobile graphics drivers are generally available only from the PC maker and not from the graphics component maker—this is a decision they make because of the way these chipsets are delivered for each PC maker.
Obviously attaching an existing device to a new PC is a common occurrence. In this case you may have long ago lost the CD/DVD that came with a device and you just plug it in (because you ignored the warning saying “please run the setup program first”). Again, our goal is to provide these via Windows Update. Often IHVs have updates or significantly large downloads that for a number of reasons are not appropriate to deliver via Windows Update. In that case we can also alert you, with a link many times, to seek the driver from the vendor of the device.
Updating drivers is something we are all familiar with as we often read “get the latest driver” to address issues. We all see this particularly in the enthusiast gamer space where newer drivers also improve performance or offer more features, in addition to improving overall. The primary way to get updated drivers is generally through optional updates in Windows Update, though again many times the latest and greatest must be downloaded directly from an IHV (independent hardware vendor) site.
Our goal is clearly to make sure that drivers for the broadest set of devices are available and high quality. There are many equal partners that contribute to delivering a PC and all the associated devices and we work hard to develop a systematic way to reach the broadest set of customers with high quality software and support.
The table below provides examples of some of the explicit devices we have directly tested thus far during the development of Windows 7. This is just a sampling of that direct testing - many more devices have been directly tested that are not shown here or are covered through equivalence classing.
This information is available in many sources, such as the WHQL web site that lists all qualified devices. For the purposes of this blog we thought it would be fun to provide a list here which we think will most certainly serve as the basis for discussion.
Manufacturer
Description
Family
Altec Lansing
T515
Audio
AMD (ATI)
Radeon 9200
Display
FireGL 3100
Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series
Radeon 9800 Pro
FireGL V3100
Radeon Xpress Series
Radeon Xpress 1200
Radeon X700 PRO
Radeon X1200
Radeon X800 CrossFire Edition
Mobility Radeon X300
Radeon X850 CrossFire Edition
Radeon X1550
Radeon X1950 Series
Mobility Radeon X1300
Mobility Radeon X1400
Mobility Radeon HD3200
Radeon HD 2600 XT
Radeon HD 3850
Radeon HD 3870
Radeon HD 3200
Radeon HD 2400
FireGL 6000
FireGL 8200
Radeon HD 2900 XT
Radeon HD 2600
Radeon HD 4850
Radeon HD4670
ATI Technologies, Inc. RAGE XL PCI
RADEON 7000 Series
Analog Devices
AD1884
AD1984
AD1981
ADI1986A
ADI1988B
Analog Devices Inc.
ADI AC97
Apple
iPhone headset
iSight 640x480 Firewire
VidCap
Archos
Archos605(WiFi)
Portable Device
ATI
ATI HDMI
BlueAnt
X5 Stereo BT Headset
Brother
HL-5140
Print / Scan
HL-2070
MFC-8440
MFC-5840c
HL-5150
MFC-8840
HL-6050D
IntelliFax-5750e
IntelliFax-5750
Canon
Canon A720IS
Digital Rebel XT
A420\410
SD430
Pixma MP140
Pixma iP1800
Pixma iP1700
Pixma iP2500
Pixma MP210
Pixma MP160
Pixma iP1500
Pixma iP1600
Pixma iP4200
Pixma iP3500
Pixma iP4500
Pixma MP180
Pixma iP2000
i475D
Pixma MP150
i250
Pixma MP520
S450
MultiPass MP390
Pixma MP500
Pixma MX300
Pixma iP1000
Pixma MP610
MultiPass MP190
Pixma iP6210D
Pixma iP5200
Pixma iP3300
Pixma iP3000
Pixma MP510
Pixma iP90
i350
Pixma iP6600D
Pixma MP830
BJC-6000
i550
Pixma MP170
Pixma MP460
Pixma MP600
Pixma iP4300
i860
Pixma MP110
i320
Pixma iP6220D
Pixma MP130
Pixma iP6310D
i960/i965
Pixma MP950
Selphy Series
i560
Pixma iP8500
MultiPass MP370
Pixma iP4000
i9900
Pixma iX4000
i865
Pixma mini260
Pixma iX5000
i850
S530D
Pixma MP800R
Pixma iP5200R
i470D Photo Printer
S600
BJC-85
Pixma iP6000
S9000
Pixma MP750
Pixma MP780
S630
MultiPass MP1000
S520
Pixma MP810
Pixma iP5000
Pixma iP6700D
Pixma iP80
SD600
Canon Inc.
PowerShot A720 IS
CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.
EX-Z1200
Chrontel
Chrontel HDMI
Conexant
Venice
Creative
MP3+ (SB0270)
Xmod
Live! Cam Optia AF
WebCam Live! USB
Webcam NoteBook 640x480 USB
WebCam Instant 352x288 USB
WebCam NX Pro 640x480 USB
WEBCAM NX
Live! Cam Notebook Pro 640K USB 2.0
Live! Cam Video IM Pro VGA USB 2.0
Webcam Live Ultra 640x480 USB 2.0 Manual Focus Ring
Creative Labs, Inc.
Live! Series
Audigy Series
X-Fi Series
Creative Technology Ltd
Nano Plus
NOMAD MuVo TX
Zen Vision M
Vision W
Sleek
PMC v2
Dell
Axim X51v
AiO 810
A924
J740
1600n
A922
A940
LP 1720dn
3100cn
W5300N
Denon
S-52
Media Sharing
Dixim
media server
Dlink
DSM-210
DSM - 520
DSM - 510
Drobo
Drobo NAS
Epson
Stylus Color C88+
Stylus Color C84/C85
Stylus Color C86/C87
Stylus Color C64
Stylus Photo R265
LQ-570/670
FX-880
Stylus Photo R220
LQ-300
Stylus Photo R320
Stylus CX6600/6500/6900
Stylus CX5400
Stylus Photo 1270
LQ-1070+
Stylus Photo R200
Stylus Photo 1280/1290
Stylus Color 900/N
Stylus Color C62
ActionPrinter 5000+
Stylus Photo 820
Stylus Color 660
Stylus Color 640
AcuLaser 2600N
FX-2170
FX-2190
FujiFilm
F30
General Electric
EasyCam USB PC Camera 640x480
GN\Jabra
GN9330
GN9350
GN2000USB
HP
HD TV
Photosmart R717
Deskjet D1400 series
Deskjet F380
Deskjet F4100
LaserJet 1018
LaserJet 1020
Photosmart C3180
Deskjet D2400 Series
LaserJet P2015
Officejet K550
PSC 1410
Deskjet F2100 series
PSC 1315
Deskjet 5440
Color LaserJet 2600
Officejet 5700
PSC 1510
Photosmart C4200
Deskjet 5150
Deskjet 930C/935C
Deskjet 5940
Photosmart C4180
Deskjet D2330
LaserJet 1022
Deskjet 3745
Deskjet 5550
Photosmart C5200
Officejet 5610
Deskjet D2360
Deskjet 3900 Series
Photosmart C5180
Deskjet 5740
Deskjet D4200 Series
Deskjet 6122
Deskjet 950C
Deskjet 940C
PSC 1610
Photosmart D5160
Officejet 6200 Series
Deskjet 3845
Deskjet 3650
PSC 2355
Officejet 6300 Series
LaserJet P2014
LaserJet 1300
Officejet Pro L7500
Officejet Pro L7600
PSC 1350
Deskjet 9800
Photosmart 2575
Deskjet 450ci
Officejet 4215
LaserJet 1160
Deskjet 5650
Officejet 7400 Series
Deskjet 3740
Officejet 5510 Series
Photosmart 3210
Officejet 7300 Series
Photosmart 7850
Deskjet 832C
Deskjet 1220C
LaserJet 3030 MFP
Photosmart A616
LaserJet 3055
Deskjet 720C
Photosmart 7260
Deskjet 3320
Deskjet 970C
Photosmart A440
Deskjet 695C/697C
Photosmart A516
Deskjet 6540
Deskjet 6940
PSC 2510
Officejet 6100 Series
Deskjet 6840
Photosmart A430
Photosmart 7450
Deskjet 812C/815C
Photosmart 375
Officejet V40 Series
Deskjet 840/843/845
Photosmart D7400 Series
PSC 950 Series
Officejet G Series
LaserJet 1015
Photosmart 7960
Deskjet 895C
Photosmart 8450
Photosmart Pro B8350
Deskjet 1180c
LaserJet 4345 MFP
LaserJet 4250
LaserJet P3005
LaserJet 5200
LaserJet 4350n
Color LaserJet 4700
LaserJet 2300
LaserJet 4000
Color LaserJet 5550
Color LaserJet 3800
LaserJet 4050
Color LaserJet 3600
LaserJet 9050
LaserJet 2100
LaserJet 4240
LaserJet 2200
Color LaserJet 3000
LaserJet 4100
LaserJet 5000
Business Inkjet 1200D
Color LaserJet 4550
Color LaserJet 4600
Color LaserJet CP4005
Color LaserJet 3700
Color LaserJet 3500
LaserJet 9000 MFP
LaserJet 4 Plus
LaserJet III
LaserJet 6MP
Color LaserJet 1500L
HTC
TyTN II
IDT
STAC9220(9223)7680
STAC9220(9223)7681
STAC9227X(D)7618
STAC9227X(D)7619
STAC9225(Sony)7662
STAC9225(Sony)7664
STAC9225(Sony)7661
STAC9200
STAC9228
STAC9205
STAC9250
Insignia
NS-BTHDP
NS-DV4G
NS-DA2G
Intel
Intel HDMI
i965GX/G35
G3x
i4G
i45GM
i915GM
i915G
i945G
i945GM
Q3x
i965G
i965GM
Iriver
ClixGen2
IriverClix2_FWv1.14
U10 Series
Clix
Jabra
BT620S
BT8010
BT3030
Jasco
Minicam Pro
Kodak
Easyshare LS420
Konica Minolta
magicolor 5450
Kyocera Mita
FS-6900
LABTEC
LABTEC WEBCAM PRO 961358
Web Cam Plus 352x288 USB 2.0 Manual Focus Motion Detection
Lexmark
Z845
Z1300
X2550
X1270
X2470
Z735
E120n
X3550
Z715
Z42 Color JetPrinter
X5470
Z816
Z615
X2250
P915
X7170
X4550
X6170
X6150
E232
2490
P3150
X5150
E323
P315
Z25 Color JetPrinter
2491
X215
X4250
E321
Z45 Color JetPrinter
X83
C524
E450D
T640
X634
W840
X632
X620
X630
T642
W812
LG
HBS-200
Logitech
QuickCam Pro 9000
Quickcam Communicate STX VGA Fixed Focus USB 2.0
QuickCam Chat VGA w/Image Capture USB 2.0
961400-0403 QuickCam Notebook Deluxe 1.3MP MF USB 2.0
QuickCam Pro 4000 640x480 USB 2.0
QuickCam Pro 5000 640x480 USB 2.0
Quickcam Vision Pro1
Quickcam Vision Pro2
961403 QuickCam Fusion 1.3MP USB 2.0
QuickCam Messenger 640x480 USB
QuickCam Messenger Refresh 640x480 USB
QuickCam Notebooks Pro 1.3MP USB 2.0
QuickCam Zoom 640x480 USB
QuickCam Communicate 640x480 USB 2.0
QuickCam Orbit MP 1.3MP USB 2.0
QUICKCAMFORNB
QuickCam Orbit 640x480 USB 2.0
QuickCam for Notebooks Pro
Lubix
UBHS-LC1
Matrox
M9120
Microsoft
NX-3000
VX-7000
NX-6000
VX-6000
VX-3000
VX-1000
LX-3000
ZX-6000
Mic Array
XBox 360
LifeCam VX-1000 VGA USB 2.0
Lifecam NX-6000
LifeCam VX-6000 1.3MP USB 2.0
LifeCam VX-3000 1.3MP USB 2.0
Xbox Live Vision (Xbox 360)
Lifecam VX-7000
Lifecam NX-3000
Momento
Wireless Picture Frame
Motorola
S9
HT820
H670
HS850
H500
DJ S805
NEC
UTR-UC-1
Nero8 Home Media
Nikon
CoolPix S1
Nokia
BH800
N95
5300
nVidia
nVidia HDMI
Nvidia
GeForce 7600GT
GeForce 7800GT
Geforce 8200
GeForce 7400 Go
Geforce 7950 GX2
Geforce 8800GTS
Geforce 8800GTX
Geforce 8400 GS
GeForce 8400M GS
Geforce 8600 GT
Quador NVS 130m
Quadro 570
Quadro 570m
GeForce 9600 GT
GeForce 8800 GT
Geforce 8400GS (G98)
Geforce 9800 X2
Geforce GTX 260
GeForce4 MX 420
GeForce FX 5200
Geforce FX 5900
GeForce 6150
GeForce 6100
GeForce 6200
GeForce 7050
GeForce 6800
GeForce Go 6150
Oki
Microline 320/Turbo
Microline 184 Turbo
Microline 391/Turbo
Microline 321/Turbo
Microline 590
Panasonic
KX-P2130
KX-P2023
Parrot
Boombox
Philips
Stereo Mic
GoGear 30GB
Plantronics
Pulsar 590A/E
Pulsar 260
Discovery 655 or 665
SupraPluc DA45
Polycom
CX400
Realtek
Realtek 262 HD Audio codec
Realtek 268 HD Audio codec
Realtek 660 HD Audio codec
Realtek 862 HD Audio codec
Realtek 883 HD Audio codec
Realtek 888 HD Audio codec
Realtek 885 HD Audio codec
Realtek 882 HD Audio codec
Realtek 861 HD Audio codec
Realtek 662 HD Audio codec
Realtek Semiconductor Corp
Realtek AC97
Rhapsody
music Jukebox
RIO
Rio Carbon
Roku
Radio Soundbridge
SoundbridgeM1000
S3
GammaChrome G700
S3 Graphics Chrome 440/430 Series
Samsung
WEP-210
YP-Z5
ML-1610
SF-5100
ML-1710
SanDisk Corporation
Sansa E260
Sansa View Mp3 Player
Sansa m250
SI
1392 HDMI
SigmaTel, Inc.
Sigmatel AC97
SiS
Xabre
Mirage3
Sonos
Zone player ZP80
Sony
DR-BT22
PS3
DSC-T200
Sony Corporation
WALKMAN NWZ-A816
Sony Ericsson
W910i
Toshiba
Gigabeat
Gigabeat V2 PMC
Turtle Beach
Audio Advantage Micro
Tversity Inc
Twonky Media
Via
DeltaChrome G700
Western Digital
External harddrive
Xerox
Phaser 6120
Phaser 4510
How Microsoft treats its existing fully supported OS customers is apparent from what their stance is for AHCI and Windows XP. Ideally, XPSP3 should have included a generic native AHCI SATA class driver for Windows XP. Many hard drive controller manufacturers who don't supply an AHCI driver screw their customers because XP then never works in full native SATA mode with NCQ et al; it only works in IDE emulation mode giving inferior performance. Microsoft should still consider giving XP users a generic AHCI controller class driver.
my samsung Omnia /windows mobile 6.1)
not work in Senen (for now )
Forgot to add: Because of MS's decision to not backport StorPort to XP, consumer RAID performance also sucks. How can they do this for a supported OS?
It should also be easy to completly uninstall devices and drivers. Devices come and go and you easily end up system with bunch of obsolete drivers installed if you upgrade your computer often or otherwise need temporarily to use different devices.
Why not add Device Cleanup Wizard "Device X hasn’t been used for a few months. Do you want to uninstall it?" I still sometimes encounter drivers which can't be uninstalled from Add/Remove programs. Of course you can look drvstore folder and then execute DPInst.exe /u path_to_driver_folde.r But that isn't very easy.
And now when we are talking about devices, every time you change your device location for example to another USB port, some sort of installation process is executed. Isn't it possible to make system work so that once driver is installed device can be connected to any port without any extra processing?
And finally it would be nice if you could use USB memory sticks in sort guest of mode so that no installation information about them isn't saved into registry.
I have a problem with seven windows, two devices can not detect Ethernet and audio I have a motherboard: asrock 775 S61 with Intel (630) (661 fx sis) HT 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 and the audio is a C-media: cmi9739a/9761 @ sis 7012, there is no driver for Windows Vista which leaves me with no Internet access and audio, please adds support for native Matroska and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
On the subject of USB sticks, it should be possible to easily assign one a name, rather than a letter. Something that is guaranteed to be available on another PC, so short cuts work.
[quote]Why not add Device Cleanup Wizard "Device X hasn’t been used for a few months. Do you want to uninstall it?" I still sometimes encounter drivers which can't be uninstalled from Add/Remove programs. Of course you can look drvstore folder and then execute DPInst.exe /u path_to_driver_folde.r But that isn't very easy.
And now when we are talking about devices, every time you change your device location for example to another USB port, some sort of installation process is executed. Isn't it possible to make system work so that once driver is installed device can be connected to any port without any extra processing?[/quote]
[quote]please adds support for native Matroska and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)[/quote]
++support.
@marcinw -- this isn't a good place to report your experience or bugs. Please sure the "Send Feedback" button to do that.
Thank you.
@Steven,
I'm sending my feedback using "Send feedback" button.
But please - what was wrong in my last post, that it was deleted ? This forum IS place for discussion too... And interesting, that moment after deleting my post there was your comment added...
@anonymuos: What's the point of releasing a new version of the OS, if you're going to backport all important features to the older one anyway?
Why not ask Microsoft to backport Aero to XP while we're at it?
@Dean Harding,
when I look into build 7000, I think, that moving Aero effects + some features from Windows 6.x to Windows 5.x codebase and creating something like Windows XP SE would be very good move for Microsoft. And this is not only my opinion - see zdnet.com for example...
marcinw: How do you think it would be a "very good move for Microsoft"? How would removing any incentive to upgrade be *at all* good for Microsoft?
And please provide some actual references for your ZDNet claim. I looked on the ZDNet site and couldn't find anybody claiming that porting aero to XP would be a "very good move for Microsoft".
By the way, I've been trying Windows 7 out on my laptop, and so far it's pretty nice. Though, I'm not sure I really like the new taskbar. If I've got multiple tabs open in IE, and then I switch windows, how do I quickly switch back to whatever tab I was looking at before? It seems like I've got to click on the taskbar button, then try to visually figure out which tab it was. Anyway, that's not really on-topic here :-)
@Dean Harding, I guess you think Aero in the same league as native Serial ATA support. I think you should read up a bit on StorPort and SCSIport. Anyways, it was introduced in Windows Server 2003, not Vista. It's not about backporting non-trivial features, but critical hardware technologies must be supported. In old of the older WinHEC 2006 presentations, it appears MS was even considering backporting StorPort/ATAport to Windows XP.
I guess it's time to move on, there's no use ranting here.
@anonymuos - we have storport/sataport in Windows Vista and Windows 7 as we said.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms803183.aspx
I think for this one there are also BIOS support issues to consider beyond the software drivers. But we have included this since server 2003 in client and server OSs. With a feature like this, work across the ecosystem is required and we often use venues such as WinHEC to solicit input to assist in informing decisions. In addition we consider the customer scenarios for a new technology.
I believe the presentation you mention is http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/b/9/5b97017b-e28a-4bae-ba48-174cf47d23cd/STO089_WH06.ppt, which I think fairly says it is under review at that time (WinHEC 2006). This is a normal part of the development process when working across the hardware/bios/software.
I'm sorry we did not support this to the degree you would have liked.
--Steven
This falls partly under "Send Feedback" (which I've already done. But I think this comment is more generic and very important.
* Computers MUST connect to the internet on their first boot.
NForce 1 and 2 motherboard chipsets never got official Vista Drivers. As a result they don't get an ethernet driver out of the box. I was able to install the XP drivers manually and they worked getting me on the internet and Windows Update then added newer versions.
Thankfully I have two computers. Most people don't have two computers.
Microsoft needs to put a LOT of effort into ensuring every computer that gets Windows 7 installed on it can connect to the internet out of the box. Once on ther internet we can then search for new drivers, troubleshooting etc.
Printer drivers are fine out of the box. But ethernet should be priority #1. Without a connection to the internet you can't push windows updates, you can't push new printer drivers--you can't do anything.
Even if NVidia, Intel or ASUS has dropped support for an old motherboard chipset--you need to desperately push to ensure their internet is enabled out of the box-- even if it means using a WindowsXP Driver like I used.