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Old July 10th 18, 03:44 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Buying Windows 7 - related question

Mayayana wrote:
"Paul" wrote

| It's my feeling, that Microsoft has used their licensing
| leverage, to stop driver support for Win7.
|

That may be, but hardware companies can vary a lot.
A few years ago I wanted drivers for an MSI board. MSI
said they no longer supported my system. I then went to
Via, the chipset maker. They had a single download that
supported all then-current systems. MSI was either
incompetent or sleazy. I doubt it was due to any outside
influence.

Dell does do extensive repackaging of drivers and may
sometimes have hardware specific to their product. It
might not be possible to be certain of getting drivers that
will work. That's why I was saying above that it's a
good idea to avoid Dell altogether.


If you want some real fun with drivers, take an
Analog Devices sound chip as an example.

The default support from Analog Devices is a year or two.
So if in the year 2003, an AD sound chip goes on a P5E
motherboard, the clock starts ticking.

Maybe around the end of 2004, your busted AD driver
still isn't working right. (There used to be a popping
sound every ten minutes or so. Like an underrun or overrun.)

Now, say in the year 2006, Asus makes another motherboard,
that happens to use the same AD chip. Bingo, another year
or two of drivers. If you're good with Google, maybe you
discover the P6X uses a driver that you can re-use
pn your P5E. The bus identifiers at the hardware level,
aren't a factor of the motherboard model number, and
so two motherboards separated in time like that,
can "partner" on drivers.

OK, your Asus well is running dry. Your AD chip still
makes the popping sound. *Now*, you start datamining
the HP and Dell sites. As they seem to be paying for
slightly longer support than Asus does. It's still the
same chip, only the four digit revision is a lot higher.

I had loads of fun with that sound chip. I chased after
drivers high and low. You have to be a creative
Googler, if you "expect the very best" in drivers.

Paul
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