Drivers..is it really that hard??

[Harry Krause]

Hmmmm. I have an Epson 1650 scanner, which epson sez it will not include
in the upgraded driver program for VISTA. But I do have the XP drivers
on a CD...

What think you?

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP]

Harry

As long as the installation program does not look for a specific OS
identifier, there is a chance that you may get it to work..

Hmmmm. I have an Epson 1650 scanner, which epson sez it will not include
in the upgraded driver program for VISTA. But I do have the XP drivers on
a CD...

What think you?

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[Guest]

Most don't. Who do you think gets blamed. That's why MS cares.

 

[Harry Krause]

Mike:

Just finished installed the EPSON software and drivers for my "obsolete"
EPSON Perfection 1650 scanner. Got the scanner when I first upgraded to
Win2k. Damned if it didn't install properly and find and initiate my old
scanner. Thanks for the encouragement.

Harry

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP]

Harry

I read somewhere, not sure where now, that the printer and scanner engine in
Vista was much the same as XP.. on that basis, one should be able to use the
original installation CD's UNLESS

#1 the installation process was written in such a way as to take advantage
of a loophole in XP code that has been cleaned up in Vista.. this is not a
deliberate block by MS, more of getting shot of sloppy code within the OS..
the manufacturers should have checked this out, but couldn't give a damn..

#2 the installation process is looking for a specific OS identifier, and
will only allow installation onto the OS specified.. this ensures that
'program' is only good for one OS, and that in the event of a new OS being
released, guess what? you have to buy a new version!! in this case, the
manufacturers already knew and still couldn't give a damn..

It is understandable that all manufacturers want and need to sell new
stuff.. cash flow is important to keep everything alive.. what we as
consumers have to get used to is seeing everything as having a two year life
max, at which point, we throw the stuff out..

Mike:

Just finished installed the EPSON software and drivers for my "obsolete"
EPSON Perfection 1650 scanner. Got the scanner when I first upgraded to
Win2k. Damned if it didn't install properly and find and initiate my old
scanner. Thanks for the encouragement.

Harry

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[Robert Moir]

Well, I learned a lot! Especially I learned never ever aspire to being a
programmer that writes drivers! I guess my original question was just
that it seems that way too much of a big deal is made over writing a
driver.

To be fair, it is one of the more difficult tasks out there in the
programming world.

I just suspect that if I were MS and dropping a bundle on a brand new
shiney OS, I would do what I could to enhance the customer satisfaction by
including drivers for more "old" stuff. Like my 6 months old scanner.

Can't argue with that in principle, but if a manufacturer refuses to do
that, how are Microsoft to react? Send someone round to Karate chop the
other company's CEO until he gives in?

 

[Guest]

I do not think you sound like politician, as you (1) clearly stated that you
realised you actually had no clue of the complexity, and (2) you in a way
agreed to be wrong. Now, when was the last time you heard that from a
politician?!

There is one thing people are missing. Even as e.g. Vista was released, I
guess it's in a way still in some form of Beta. I know that when mobile phone
manufacturers release their new complex functions phones (e.g. SE 990i, Nokia
Communicator) they know that they cannot shake out the bugs in lab
environment. The stuff has to be placed in the hands of common users doing
what they do, the way they do it. This is nothing beta testing can help you
with, because then your letting the stuff out to people who generally know
what they're doing. You need to get it into the hands of those who don't,
since they are the ones who do really stupid stuff. The big difference is
that when SE and Nokia release these products, they do it in relatively small
series, more or less handbuilt, and take care of these customers as if they
were new born children. SE and Nokia also have complete control of the
hardware of their products, whereas MS don't. MS has a different kind of
product and do what they can in beta testing. But if they were to wait with
the release until it was bug free, they would never be able to release
anything. As for eg. MacOS, Apple do have more control of the hardware config
than MS has, and only apporximately five percent of the customers MS has.
They don't pay quite as much attention to legacy software as MS does either.
If you act like Apple it's definitely easier to get things work bug free. If
they were to release MacOS as an OS you could install pretty much on any
computer like Windows, things would mess up as well. Especially they would
need to produce non-conflicting drivers for any "stupid" config you could
come up with.

....Ok, I got a little side track there.

 

[Steve Urbach]

You need to get it into the hands of those who don't,
since they are the ones who do really stupid stuff.

Un-anticipated stuff would be a better choice of words <G>.

There is no cure for "Stupid stuff" like:
leaving your phone on the roof of the car and driving off with it
there (for a short time). Dunking a new phone on a neck lanyard in a
Starbucks (Co-worker leaned over a open cup. Dunk. Bye Bye $200
phone.)