This is particularly useful for testing hardware compatibility and driver support.
The result was they didn't include driver support for the extra features for many months after the software went on sale.
In the first year after Vista's release, most installations were still 32-bit, due to poor driver support of the 64-bit version.
Basically, Jon is a little irritated about Diamond's driver support.
They cannot always be used on other operating systems and host machines because the driver support requires far more effort to produce.
That said, driver support for only 32-bit is very disappointing.
Consequently, such controllers may not work when driver support is not available for the host operating system.
However, I think you're underestimating the straightforwardness of driver support.
It requires some degree of driver support from the audio hardware manufacturer.
XP 64-bit has crappy driver support, and is only going one way in the future - down the drain.