Responsibility for Drivers

[husky86]

If a particular driver for a particular piece of hardware is still not
available for Windows Vista, who ultimately is responsible for the production
and distribution of that driver? Is it Microsoft or is it the hardware
manufacturer?

I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate on a desktop system. Well over a year
after Vista's release, I still have at least three outstanding and major
driver issues. Each of the manufacturers, e.g. motherboard, network card,
etc., tell me that Microsoft is responsible for producing/updating the
drivers.

Is this true?

 

[Jane C]

No. It is the responsibility of the hardware manufacturer to provide the
drivers.

Which specific drivers are you having difficulty obtaining?

 

[R. McCarty]

No, Microsoft doesn't write drivers for non-Microsoft hardware nor is
it their responsibility. Windows is a platform, what you plug in or install
on it is that vendor's responsibility. Drivers aren't just simple pieces of
code and Vista fundamentally changes the structure or drivers. Vendors
may decide that writing code for older products isn't cost effective and
concentrate their efforts on newer products. There are an untold amounts
of programs and hardware that will never be Vista compliant. Microsoft
provided the APIs ( Application Programming Interface ) to vendors in
advance of Vista's release so they could do the work necessary to have
drivers ready. Unfortunately most didn't take advantage of that and you
have the situation you find yourself in.

Second only to "Reinstall", blaming another vendor is the most common
reason given to customers who have software issues. It's easy to get a
customer off the phone and hard for the customer to realize it's BS.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

No, Microsoft doesn't write drivers for non-Microsoft hardware nor is
it their responsibility. Windows is a platform, what you plug in or
install
on it is that vendor's responsibility. Drivers aren't just simple pieces
of
code and Vista fundamentally changes the structure or drivers. Vendors
may decide that writing code for older products isn't cost effective and
concentrate their efforts on newer products. There are an untold amounts
of programs and hardware that will never be Vista compliant. Microsoft
provided the APIs ( Application Programming Interface ) to vendors in
advance of Vista's release so they could do the work necessary to have
drivers ready. Unfortunately most didn't take advantage of that and you
have the situation you find yourself in.

Second only to "Reinstall", blaming another vendor is the most common
reason given to customers who have software issues. It's easy to get a
customer off the phone and hard for the customer to realize it's BS.

MS doesn't write drivers for MS hardware either. They had a tough time
getting Vista drivers for their own products..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[will_s]

and Vendors use this as a golden opportunity to force users to upgrade their
hardware

but saying this Microsoft could have done more in advising users that there
was quite a bit of hardware that wouldn't work with Vista

but saying this ( sounds familiar ) in the end its up to the end user to get
of his butt and do some research before upgrading / purchasing a new O/S

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

and Vendors use this as a golden opportunity to force users to upgrade
their hardware

but saying this Microsoft could have done more in advising users that
there was quite a bit of hardware that wouldn't work with Vista

but saying this ( sounds familiar ) in the end its up to the end user to
get of his butt and do some research before upgrading / purchasing a new
O/S

MS is in no better position to know what will and won't work ultimately..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[Bruce Chambers]

If a particular driver for a particular piece of hardware is still not
available for Windows Vista, who ultimately is responsible for the production
and distribution of that driver? Is it Microsoft or is it the hardware
manufacturer?

Hardware manufacturer.

I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate on a desktop system. Well over a year
after Vista's release, I still have at least three outstanding and major
driver issues. Each of the manufacturers, e.g. motherboard, network card,
etc., tell me that Microsoft is responsible for producing/updating the
drivers.

Is this true?

No, it's not true.

--

Bruce Chambers

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