I've written previously about my experiences upgrading three different computers from Windows Vista to Windows 7 (one more to go) - the upgrade process worked... and required a bit of tech expertise (read more here: part 1, part 2, part 3.  That was before Windows 7 was officially available.

With Windows 7 now available for the general public, and off to what appears to be a fast start, we are starting to see at support.com some post-upgrade challenges.  Below is feedback from a Salem, Oregon support.com customer:

"I installed Windows 7 Home the day it came out.  I immediately started having problems with my printer and the Plextor dvd/cd r/rw.  The system recognized the device but it did not read any of the disks I put in it.  Your tech determined the problem was in the registry and fixed it.  Now I have a working dvd/cd r/rw once again.  I also had a problem with the system recogtnizing my Viewsonic VX1962w series LCD Display.  Once again your tech tracked down the problem, fixed it."

Windows 7 is a major step forward in device support and setup (remember all the compatibility problems with Windows Vista?) but still isn't perfect.  As noted in the blog entries about the upgrade process many computers will require device or application upgrades / updates before Windows 7 will work properly.  And other computers, like the computer mentioned above, will need post upgrade tweaking to get everything back to normal.  In the most extreme case - in particular for upgrades from Windows XP to Windows 7 - devices or applications that used to work simply won't work anymore.

Does that mean Windows 7 is only worth it for new computers? In our assessment, no, Windows 7 will run very well on just about any computer currently running Windows Vista, and on some computers that currently run Windows XP.