Win7 better compatibility than Vista?

[Prudence (imported)]

Does anyone know if Windows 7 wll have better "downwards compatibility" than Vista?

I have a few older programs that won't run in Vista, but will run in WinXP. Haven't tried Win7 yet. Just wondering if it worth the time to try out Win7 Beta/RC... (if I hear that anyone else has gotten a program to work in Win7, which did not work in Vista but did work in XP, it would be worth it)

[bobover3 (imported)]

Have you tried running the XP programs using Vista's "compatibility mode"? Curious about the results, if you have.

[Batman (imported)]

Have you tried running the XP programs using Vista's "compatibility mode"? Curious about the results, if you have.

XP Compatibility mode IS XP running on a Virtual Machine on top of Windows 7. The big difference is they integrate the XP programs/icons like the rest of your programs. So most if not all XP programs will work that way if they don't run natively on Windows 7 (although I've read 7 does run more older programs than Vista).

[Paolo]

Well, think of it this way:

If any of Vista actually worked, would 7 be coming out so soon?

[Riverwind (imported)]

I have been using windows7 for over 6 months, the problem I have run into is when I reloaded windows7 with a 64bit OS, I have had trouble running 32 bit older pgms however microshaft said they would be fixing that problem and I actually believe them. Oh My.

Other then that Windows 7 is solid.

River

[Prudence (imported)]

Thanks very much for the comments!

I have been using windows7 for over 6 months, the problem I have run into is when I reloaded windows7 with a 64bit OS, I have had trouble running 32 bit older pgms however microshaft said they would be fixing that problem and I actually believe them. Oh My.

Other then that Windows 7 is solid.

River

It will be very interesting to see if they will be able to fix this.

It is also a problem with the previous 64-bit versions of Windows (XP-64, Vista-64). Some older 32-bit stuff just isn't going to be compatible... Just like a couple years ago when we switched from 16-bit to 32-bit. Most 16-bit stuff worked in the 32-bit OS, but some did not.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Keep in mind that software is usually out of date in about 2 years, totally out of date in 7. The natural progression of things will purge the old away.

On windows 7 64bit OS, I like some of my older games some work, some do not, Diablo 2 works great, Dune 2000 does not, Dune is 9 years old.

Any OS should be backward compatible and it most likely will be for other software they put out, dealing with another vendor this will not always be true.

Windows 7 is the future for most people, it only a matter of when you decide to jump on board.

River