Why do you even mention Windows 7? It was released in 2009, sure it's not designed to handle retina. Win8 introduced Metro apps, all work nice with any screen.

Why do you even mention Windows 7? It was released in 2009, sure it's not designed to handle retina. Win8 introduced Metro apps, all work nice with any screen. Legacy software it up to developers to fix, it's not Microsoft's issue. At least major apps, like Adobe CC, Office, browsers support hidpi already. Things have changed though. The issue of subpixel rendering is gone: MS Office and browsers use Directwrite API, which solves antialiasing, layout inconsistensies, irregular intervals, etc.