NVIDIA's Drivers Caused 28.8% Of Vista Crashes In 2007

PaisteUser tips us to an Ars Technica report discussing how 28.8% of Vista's crashes over a period in 2007 were due to faulty NVIDIA drivers. The information comes out of the 158 pages of Microsoft emails that were handed over at the request of a judge in the Vista-capable lawsuit. NVIDIA has already faced a class-action lawsuit over the drivers. From Ars Technica: "NVIDIA had significant problems when it came time to transition its shiny, new G80 architecture from Windows XP to Windows Vista. The company's first G80-compatible Vista driver ended up being delayed from December to the end of January, and even then was available only as a beta download. In this case, full compatibility and stability did not come quickly, and the Internet is scattered with reports detailing graphics driver issues when using G80 processors for the entirely of 2007. There was always a question, however, of whether or not the problems were really that bad, or if reporting bias was painting a more negative picture of the current situation than what was actually occurring."

Comments

Could they do that? Not a level playing field.

[Mactrope]

Where are these crashing Linux systems you mention? Is that what happens if you use Nvidia's non free drivers? I have used them and the do lower system stability but not to Windows levels. Nearly 100% of my crashes were due to Nvidia and they vanished when I moved to nv, along with pretty special effects. The crashes were just Xwindows restarts not full system stopping BSoD like you get in Windows. What's more, Intel graphics chips offer effects that are almost as good with free drivers that have no stability problems at all.