Novell Delivers Device Driver Breakthrough

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Wednesday May 17, 2006 @08:20AM from the hopefully-the-companies-will-actually-start-writing-them dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Novell today announced a new Linux device driver process to make it easier for third party device driver writers to integrate their drivers with SUSE Linux." From the article: "The new driver process allows customers to obtain drivers independently of Novell® kernel updates and supplies a straightforward approach third parties can use when developing device drivers for Novell's SUSE® Linux Enterprise products. The new Linux driver process developed by Novell allows hardware and software vendors to provide Linux drivers and driver updates for their products to customers directly and transparently, in a way that is completely integrated with SUSE Linux Enterprise delivery and support."

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When my copy of Windows fails... by Osrin · 2006-05-17 08:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

... it is generally the result of a badly written 3rd party device driver, and the inability of the OS to protect itself from that driver. Have Novell delivered a major breakthrough here (as the article suggests) or the beginnings of a major headache?

I know there will be replies about how the architechure of Linux protects us from some of the risk, but in reality 3rd parties will circumvent any device driver model in an effort to make their device perform optmally, even at the expense of the wider platform.