But this is a bit like what I'm saying. I've never had a sound problem
with any audio application that I have ever run on any machine with any
version of Windows. Nor have I ever had a printer or scanner or combo
that hasn't just worked with minimum fuss and pretty much transparent
driver installation from the manufacturer's supplied disc. That is the
main advantage of Windows over other operating systems, for me, and I
would suggest most *average* computer users.

periphieral compatibility is at about 85%, compared to windows 95%.

Yes, there is lots of stuff on windows that doesn't play nice as well.


But the 5 % that doesn't is almost certainly pretty 'specialist', which
would be why there has been little commercial incentive to make it play
nicely.


And OSX. Imagine buying a new printer and finding out that you acnt
install the drivers because you have an OSX on power PC, and the printer
manufactures decide not to support that processor because its ten years
old.


But why would you buy a printer that didn't work on any operating system
that you intended it to ? Research before buying is surely the key here ?
And OSX is not Windows unless I'm missing something. Isn't it a Linux based
system ?


How many mew peripheral work on old XP?


The world moves on. There are many examples where something old struggles to
work in today's world. Manufacturers can't be expected to continue to
maintain old-hat products, just because a few people baulk at shelling out
for a new one ... I liked my XP machines, and had to be dragged kicking and
screaming onto later Windows versions, but like anything, I got used to it,
and now find that when I go back to the old backup workshop machine, it
looks really pony compared to my main W7 machine and the wife's Vista laptop



And there isn't a lot linux can do if manufacturers wont release driver
sources either. Or write linux drivers.


But you have to wonder why that is. Presumably because they believe that the
potential returns don't justify the extra costs. It's a hard old life out
there in 'commercial land' and every penny of spend has to be worth it. And
I'm surprised that if there is sufficient demand for a driver, Linux
enthusiasts wouldn't reverse engineer a Windows version, and then produce a
work around that interfaced the device's functionality to their platform.

Arfa