In a previous TechnoLawyer Blog Post, Grace Suarez warned that Windows XP does not support TWAIN, a popular interface used by virtually all scanners. Predictably, we've received several responses.
TechnoLawyer member Sam Brenner offers this clarification: "To be more precise when you upgrade from Windows 98, ME, or 2000 to Windows XP your TWAIN drivers are removed and WIA drivers are installed. You can reload your TWAIN drivers at this time. Windows will then use the TWAIN interface. If you have software that relies on the TWAIN API make sure to re-load your twain drivers."
TechnoLawyer Mike Millen added the following: "I don't think [Grace] is correct. I went to Microsoft's Web site and found the following: 'The TWAIN Data Source Manager (DSM) is an industry-standard software library used to abstract TWAIN applications from still image devices. WIA uses the TWAIN DSM implementation in Microsoft Windows XP together with the TWAIN compatibility driver to provide a compatibility layer for applications that support TWAIN version 1.7 or later, but don't yet support WIA."
Finally, TechnoLawyer member Michael Vorel writes: "I am not sure what problems Grace has experienced with TWAIN and XP. I regularly use TWAIN enabled equipment with all versions of XP, Professional and Home. I will affirm that some vendors have not certified their TWAIN implementation to prevent the XP squawk of driver support. I use scanners and cameras from many vendors with no problems to date on our systems. Connectivity is via serial ports, USB, SCSI and network connections. Support is available for the Adobe CS products, Canon, Ricoh, Kodak, eCopy, IPROTech and many others. WIA is becoming available as new tools reach the marketplace. Could Grace share some of her pains with this community? BTW ... TWAIN often times is less functional then those features developed under ISIS, but has gained significant market share."
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