My main complaint? No Windows 7 drivers. HP still has no Win7 drivers for any of their printers or all-in-ones. And they’re not alone. I don’t see Win7 drivers for Epson or Lexmark, or a host of other peripheral manufacturers, either.

Why is this a problem? Doesn’t my printer print using the drivers built into Windows 7? Yes, it does. Win7 did an amazingly good job of just finding my network printer in seconds and spitting out prints. But it’s basic. If you want full control over your printer, like checking ink levels and such, you need the HP software. You need the HP software for the scanner to work over the network with your PC (you can always scan and dump to an SD card or something). In most cases you don’t get support if you’re not using the manufacturer drivers, or installing them will be the first thing support will tell you to do.

What’s the hold up? I’m sure HP’s company line is that they’ll have drivers when Windows 7 is available. Not good enough. Certainly that philosophy isn’t good enough for their notebooks, which list Windows 7 32- and 64-bit drivers on a whole host of models.

First of all, Windows 7 is available. I have a legal, full, final copy right now. TechNet and MSDN subscribers have access for weeks, which is how I got it.

More importantly, the general public has had access to Windows 7 beta since early January. The whole point of this beta is for users to test out their hardware and software with Windows and find the problems. Sometime between beta and release, HP (and everyone else) is supposed to release their Windows 7 drivers so the public can try them out and report problems. This is how a company releases really solid drivers right at the release of a new OS. It is almost impossible to really get the kinks out with just your internal testing, and the resulting support calls can kill profits. AMD and Nvidia have figured this out, and have been shipping and updating Windows 7 drivers throughout the beta process.

So get with the program, HP. Win7 is “hot” right now. You should have a big badge on the front page that says “Ready for Windows 7. Get your Windows 7 drivers and support here!” It should take you to a whole page themed and dedicated to owners of HP products, all of them, getting Windows 7 drivers and support. That’s what we like to call an “obvious marketing opportunity.” And if Windows 7 rolls around and there’s no proper driver for my not-at-all-old-and-should-still-be-supported product, I guess you’ll lose my future business.