Have exactly the same problem in my field of work, fire alarms, the old dos software only seems to find the com ports on 98 and most fire alarm panel software is written for xp!

thats most companies first answer when you call em saying your having probs with there software connecting to a panel, they hit you back with are you running xp!

cant say im too bothered as the laptop i use doesnt go on the net so should be cool to carry on as is!