Drivers

[Jonathan]

> From: Don Erickson [mailto:derick at shark.zeni.net]
> Subject: Re: Bugs are bad, they are not job security (Was: spam)

> If Microsoft was responsible for writing and supporting the various
> hardware drivers, as Linux is, there'd be a steaming train wreck on every
> desktop. 

I don't think you could say "Linux" was any more responsible for writing
drivers than Microsoft is.  (Aside from the fact that "Linux" really doesn't
exist as an entity that could be held responsible.)  So far it's been "third
parties" who have written most of them, but as it's started to look like
there was a significant share of market who might select a given device
because it had a Linux driver, manufacturers have started writing them (or
having them written).

The problems with drivers for Microsoft products has often been that they
don't meet the standards (which may be inadequate); they don't play well
with other software, and they're full of bugs.  One thing Microsoft will do
is publish a testing procedure, but even if something's been Microsoft
certified (which most stuff hasn't), there's no guarantee it wasn't a
configuration fluke that allowed it to pass.  

Often you get a product that takes so long from when it's manufactured in
Taiwan to when it's actually on the shelves in the Midwest that the company
that made it is two or three generations down the line and won't support it.

The nice thing about Linux drivers is the old Open Source Argument - that if
they're open source and people want the hardware to work, they have the
ability to re-write them until they do.

(Some of this has been said before, I'm sure.)

In any case, a lot of what's "wrong" with Microsoft products has in the past
been bad drivers from the manufacturers, and with their products as well as
with Linux systems, if you choose hardware that's been certified to have
been tested, you'll have better luck.  That's not going to be the stuff
that's on loss-leader at CompUSA or from DTech, which often turns out to be
a factor in "Windows crashes all the time" complaints.

Howdy, y'all!
J. Hutchins,
MCP, LAN/WAN Analyst, Linux & NT System Administrator, etc.