With every new Windows release there is a lot of older hardware that you can no longer get drivers for. The manufacturers insist that you buy the latest hardware and throw the old stuff away.
I have two examples.
1) A Logitech USB WebCam. I haven't used it for a few years but when I connected it to Windows 7 it couldn't locate a driver. Driver is not available on the Logitech website.
2) I have an XP MediaCenter with 2 x Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T-500 dual digital TV tuner cards. These cost me about $450 in total. There are no Windows 7 drivers available but I want to upgrade my MediaCenter machine to Windows 7.
There is nothing wrong with the existing hardware. It works perfectly and there is no technical reason why these could not have drivers released for Windows 7. Why should I be forced to spend another $450 on two more dual tuners just so I can upgrade to Windows 7?
Sure the manufacturers can say "we don't support these devices anymore so we don't update the drivers". I'm happy to pay $10 to be able to download the latest OS drivers for this hardware.
The most frustrating this is not that I am trying to save money, but I think about the impact on the environment because of this. Throwing away perfectly good old hardware just because I cannot get drivers for them makes me feel very uncomfortable.
I beleive the manufacturers have a responsibility to provide a longer lifespan for their products. Computers are at the point now where you may want to go to the latest OS and your existing computer is powerfull enough to do it. The only reason you need to buy new hardware is so you can get working drivers.
It would be good for Tom's hardware to do an article on this.
I have two examples.
1) A Logitech USB WebCam. I haven't used it for a few years but when I connected it to Windows 7 it couldn't locate a driver. Driver is not available on the Logitech website.
2) I have an XP MediaCenter with 2 x Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T-500 dual digital TV tuner cards. These cost me about $450 in total. There are no Windows 7 drivers available but I want to upgrade my MediaCenter machine to Windows 7.
There is nothing wrong with the existing hardware. It works perfectly and there is no technical reason why these could not have drivers released for Windows 7. Why should I be forced to spend another $450 on two more dual tuners just so I can upgrade to Windows 7?
Sure the manufacturers can say "we don't support these devices anymore so we don't update the drivers". I'm happy to pay $10 to be able to download the latest OS drivers for this hardware.
The most frustrating this is not that I am trying to save money, but I think about the impact on the environment because of this. Throwing away perfectly good old hardware just because I cannot get drivers for them makes me feel very uncomfortable.
I beleive the manufacturers have a responsibility to provide a longer lifespan for their products. Computers are at the point now where you may want to go to the latest OS and your existing computer is powerfull enough to do it. The only reason you need to buy new hardware is so you can get working drivers.
It would be good for Tom's hardware to do an article on this.
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