Microsoft taking no chances with Windows 7 labeling scheme
Microsoft has announced that 32-bit only machines will not qualify for its Windows 7 compatibility labeling scheme. It’s a major change of emphasis after the debacle of “Vista Capable”.
As we’ve noted several times, an official Microsoft labeling scheme which branded machines “Vista Capable” ran into major difficulties when it emerged that this only referred to basic editions of Vista. That led to legal action from disgruntled buyers who had machines with the label but where unable to run some prominently advertised features including the Aero graphics system. The ensuing court case revealed some embarrassing secrets including the revelation that the firm had loosened the criteria for bearing the label after pressure from Intel.
This time round, Microsoft appears to be opting for an ultra-cautious approach. In its unveiling of the new “Compatible with Windows 7” label scheme it said:
To be granted the Logo, products are tested to work with all versions of Windows 7 including 64-bit. This is an important change since 64 bit systems are becoming more mainstream.
That might not go down too well with manufacturers of some computers. Many netbooks which are based around current Intel Atom processors are incompatible with 64-bit software and thus can’t bear the logo under these rules.
That creates something of a dilemma. With the situation left as it is, there’ll be some machines which are perfectly compatible with 32-bit Windows 7 but can’t bear the logo, which may costs sales among casual buyers. The alternative, creating separate logos for such machines, could cause further confusion, particularly given that the concept of 32 and 64-bit is largely meaningless to many if not most computer users.
Microsoft notes that 6,000 products have already passed the testing to bear the Windows 7 label. That’s partially down to revisions to make the accreditation process cheaper and reduce paperwork.
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