I upgraded an older computer (a first generation Asus Pundit) to Windows 7 from Vista. The update went quite well ... it was surprising how cleanly it managed to migrate the settings and preferences to the new OS. It took some time but when it was over I had Windows 7 installed and working.
Well, almost working. Apparently the video card (a PCI ATI 9250), which worked fine under Vista, was not supported by the new OS. I was able to get an image but it was stuck at such a slow refresh rate as to be painful to view. I searched for updated drivers but it was so old that neither ATI or Microsoft had any intention of writing updated drivers for it. I went on a quick search for alternative video cards but most stores I called either no longer stocked PCI video cards at all or didn't have one that supported Vista / Windows 7.
So, I was left with a machine that ran Windows 7 just fine but I couldn't look at.
This bothers me. The computer works fine for what I want to use it for (essentially anything other than Photoshop or games). In fact, I've reformatted the drive and reinstalled Windows XP and am typing this entry on it. But, because Microsoft has decided that they want to push Windows 7 and discontinue updates for Windows XP at some point I'm going to have to abandon it. If the people over there in Redmond are so smart why can't they create a driver system that doesn't have to be completely replaced every time they do an update?
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