(Un)Support of Sony Vaio by Sony and Microsoft
I have an old Sony Vaio VGN-BX570B. I used it with Ubuntu for many years. The only missing hardware was fingerprint reader and this was definitely not a blocker.
I left this old friend alone when I got my new Asus G50Vt, until now.
I wanted to test Windows 7 RC with my old Vaio. The installation did not take more than 35 minutes, which good for such an hardware. However, Windows failed to use following devices:
- Wireless network adapter (Inter ProWireless)
- ATI Display adapter
- Internal USB camera
- Bluetooth
- Fingerprint reader
- SD card reader
This was the first disappointment. Windows traditionally fails to use some hardware automatically but I expected more from Windows 7. We are in 2009 and we deserve more.
I browsed to http://esupport.sony.com to find drivers. Unfortunately there is only a few Windows Vista Business drivers and Intel ProWireless is not one of them.
Since Windows XP drivers do not work with Windows 7, my adventure with it ended shortly.
For over ten years, I keep hearing “Linux does not support much hardware” from dinosaurs.
Linux -believed to run fewer hardware- is able to use all of these hardware (still except fingerprint reader) I am able to use this laptop with the latest advanced kernels and software, without any problem.
On the other hand, billions of dollars Microsoft + Sony brotherhood can not provide me a install-and-go operating system or new drivers for new advanced operating systems. They force me to use 8 year old and ugly Windows XP.
