Windows 7 is not expected to debut in its final form for at least a few more months, but AMD wants to make sure they greet Microsoft's upcoming operating system with the proper support. Thus, today they have announced that their video graphics driver for Windows 7 has just received Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL) certification from the software giant.
This basically means that people running an ATI Radeon HD 2000, HD 3000, and HD 4000 series card will be able to play nice with Windows 7, making the upgrade process a simple task. Catalyst drivers for Windows 7 were already available in beta form, but the WHQL certification means that they have now been tested and approved by Microsoft for compatibility and reliability.
A fully unified WHQL-certified driver supporting Windows Vista and Windows 7 is planned for the release of ATI Catalyst 9.5 later this month, though an updated WHQL driver (revision number 8.612) for Windows 7 is out now in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors with full support for the just-launched release candidate.