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Microsoft to Turn to Driver Quality Ratings System

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the four-stars dept.

QT writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Microsoft is finally trying to do something about PC driver problems. A new crash-report-driven Driver Quality Rating system will be used in Windows Vista to rate drivers. Drivers that rate poorly in real world use by users will lose their logo certification status, which would be bad news for OEMs and the device manufacturers themselves. Maybe now submitting crash reports will feel more useful? This is long overdue."

2 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. I know what I will do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I will give bad feedback to all vendors that develop drivers which aren't standard / poorly integrated with the OS.

    This include any driver which add a tray icon app. Do we realy need that each wireless card vendor bundle its own wireless configuration software?
    Yes, I know you don't have to use it, but most people think they do. Try to explain to the average joe why there is TWO icons displaying the status of his wireless connection. Or that changing the color settings of the monitor depends on the video card driver.
    When I bought my cheap 3.5'' USB SD/CF card reader, I didn't know that it needed a special software to work. At last in Vista I will be able to mod them -1 bad driver.

  2. Re:You don't make any sense by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If it was almost anyone else, there wouldn't be any argument. History, in the sense that Microsoft has always worked to blame others (Lotus, Corel, Netscape, so many printer manufacturers) for problems that are caused by Microsoft policies, works against trusting them:

    1. undocumented APIs that end up getting used anyway because if you try to go the legit route, you quickly find "you can't get there from here" - for 2 decades and counting
    2. patches that purposefully break competitors products
    3. denial of responsibility for poor programming
    4. what little information they do release is frequently not accurate (see the European Commision's findings that Microsoft can't even document their own code - and sometimes they can't even find the code any more)
    5. treating the certification program as both a cash cow and a lever against manufacturers - a prime example of asshole management that works to the long-term detriment of everyone, including Microsoft

    ... and the usual rants ...

    Like I said, anyone else, this wouldn't be an issue. But they LIE so many times. Look at the latest spyware - the WGA tool that phones home every day, and all the lies they told about it, and continue to tell about it. This is someone you'd trust?