Sunday Software & Windows 7
Compatibility Report & Recommendations
an article by Neil MacQueen, www.sundaysoftware.com

This article was written for our customers who are thinking of upgrading their computer labs to Windows 7.

It is also a brief guide to which of our programs (past and current) may need updating, or will not work in Windows 7

Upgrading to a new operating system is always a catch-22. You get a great new system, and often better hardware which came with it, --but some older (and newer) software may have problems with the new system or hardware.  We've seen it with every new system since the days of DOS and Windows 3.1.  Fortunately, Microsoft has a good history of trying to make each new operating system as "backwards compatible" with older software as possible. (Apple has a horrible history of maintaining backwards compatibility, which is why we don't recommend Macs for Sunday School computing, as the average church lab can't afford to have their software go obsolete every 5 years). 

BASIC ADVICE:

If you're jumping from XP to Windows 7, and have a decent number of older titles from us, you should expect to have a FEW compatibility issues.

Many of them can be solved with tweaks or updates.

However, some older software will not run in Windows 7. 

See the list below and consult each program's individual tech support page for tweaks and tips.

TIP:

When you get Windows 7, remember to also install the latest version of Quicktime 7+ so that videos/animations can run in W7.

And please note:  You may also have to install the older Quicktime 2.1 AS WELL in order to run the animations in some of our older software. See my Quicktime notes below.

UPGRADE CAUTION:

I don't recommending upgrading or updating an existing computer to Windows 7 that ALREADY has XP or Vista.  You're asking for trouble and incompatibilities. Older computers have components and drivers that were not specifically designed for Windows 7, and the drivers that come with the Win7 upgrade may not be fully compatible with your older hardware under certain programming/media circumstances.

If you are buying a computer with Windows 7, or UPGRADING to Windows 7, we strongly recommend you also upgrade your RAM MEMORY to 2 gigabytes.

 

IMPORTANT QUICKTIME NOTES and Required QUICKTIME Upgrade Information for Windows 7:

Windows 7 users need to UPGRADE to the very latest version of Quicktime for Windows. Quicktime is the multimedia utility used by many of our programs to deliver multimedia. Quicktime continues to receive small upgrades to address compatibility issues. www.quicktime.com (from Apple, works on Windows). 

However, please note: there are still a couple of older programs which will only run with Quicktime 2.1 installed. Life of David, Daniel, Noah, Paul, and Actual Reality all still work in Windows 7, ...just gotta remember to manually install the qt32 install program which the developer put on the CD. 

YOU CAN have both 2.1 and the latest version of QT installed on the same computer.
...and with some older programs, you will need v2.1 installed.

IMPORTANT QUICKTIME 2.1 INSTALLATION TIP:  When installing Quicktime 2.1 in Windows 7, you MUST press "SKIP" or "NO" when it asks you if you want to search for other versions of quicktime. If you click 'yes' the install will hang.  After installing, you'll see a quicktime test window. Press your spacebar to start the test video to "calibrate' (whatever that means). Now you're done!  For my complete Quicktime Help & Support page go to www.sundaysoftware.com/quicktime

 

If  you are buying a new computer today...

I recommend going ahead and getting Windows 7.  You MAY have to download an update or two of our software to get them to run in W7. And in the case of Life of Christ CD and Kid Pix CD you will need to buy the latest W7 compatible versions (older versions of LoC and KP will not work in W7). 

Which new computer to buy?

Here's a rule of thumb for church computer labs that has worked for many many years:  1) Go to the Home Desktop computer section of Dell's website; 2) Look at the model which is ONE STEP ABOVE their basic economy model. This computer and its specs are usually the best choice for Sunday School and church use. For other brands, do the same "one step above economy" and you're usually getting a decent machine at a decent price. 

For more "Getting Started" advice about lab setup, hardware and first software choices, read my articles at www.sundaysoftware.com/articles

For Sunday School use, however, XP is still a very good choice. Read on....

Neil's Recommendation for Churches using computers in Christian education and their offices:
If you have XP installed computers with a minimum 1.4 megahertz processors, stick with them. You don't need to invest in W7.  Get them updated with 2 gigabytes or more of RAM and an inexpensive new videocard (that has XP videodrivers). I do not recommending installing Windows 7 on an old machine.

If you have Vista installed computers, stick with them and maybe add some RAM.

If you have anything less than 1.4 ghz processor, consider upgrading to newer "used" XP era computers which businesses and members have to donate. XP installed computers are still the system of CHOICE for Christian education software, for no other reason than EVERYTHING we have works great on XP right now. Just add some more RAM and maybe a new inexpensive videocard. For a full discussion on recommended computers, go to www.sundaysoftware.com/techie.htm