Samsung: Don't install Windows 10 (theregister.co.uk)

An anonymous reader shares an article on The Register: Samsung is advising customers against succumbing to Microsoft's nagging and installing Windows 10. The consumer electronics giant's support staff have admitted drivers for its PCs still don't work with Microsoft's newest operating system and told customers they should simply not make the upgrade. That's nearly a year after Microsoft released Windows 10 and with a month to go until its successor -- Windows 10 Anniversary Update -- lands. Samsung's customers have complained repeatedly during the last 12 months of being either unable to install Microsoft's operating system on their machines or Windows 10 not working properly with components if they do succeed. However, with the one-year anniversary fast approaching it seems neither of these tech giants have succeeded in solving these persistent problems.

Comments

Problem here seems to be Samsung?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe if they weren't so far up Cook's ass, they'd take the time to write some new drivers. Or even write older drivers to spec, since they should work with Windows 10 too.

Re:Problem here seems to be Samsung?

[Austerity Empowers]

Maybe if they weren't so far up Cook's ass, they'd take the time to write some new drivers. Or even write older drivers to spec, since they should work with Windows 10 too.

In what way is Samsung up Cook's ass? I assume we're talking about Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, competitor to Samsung on many things including phones, tablets, laptops and PCs, and supplier on other things (SSDs, RAM).

Samsung isn't going to be writing drivers for Broadcom chips, only Broadcom can do that. No doubt Broadcom would like to be paid for it, since they have recently exited the 802.11 business (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/03/18/apple-supplier-broadcom-wi-fi-chip-business/), they probably have let most of that staff go or re-org'd them on to something else. I'm sure that BCM is just one component lacking driver support, but outside of SSDs which don't usually need drivers, it is unclear that Samsung is on the hook to write any drivers at all, but would have to pay someone else to do it, and they don't want to because you've already spent that money and what's in it for them exactly?

This is why linux people get so bent out of shape over proprietary drivers being a blight. Companies protect those secrets until one day they disappear into the mist, leaving us all holding the bag.

Which one to laugh at more?

[jeffb (2.718)]

In this case, I think it's gotta be Samsung. Still no drivers after a year? Seriously?

Re:Which one to laugh at more?

[ledow]

Still no Windows 10 drivers after a year from release, for a cheap model of laptop they might have pushed out 5-7 years ago, which was only certified for Windows 7? Yeah, not really surprising.

There are a LOT of manufacturer's out there committing exactly that "crime". It's got nothing to do with laziness - hell, in that time the manufacturer could have gone bankrupt - but it's got everything to do with the manufacturer just saying "that's an old chipset, we don't have 10 drivers. But for $50k...." and Samsung telling them to stick it up their bottom.

Re:Which one to laugh at more?

[ArchieBunker]

The reason is simple. You don't make money writing drivers for hardware you've already sold.

Re:Which one to laugh at more?

[Racemaniac]

Sure, let's just continue junking perfectly working hardware after a couple of years, i'm sure nature will be able to handle it (and those poor chinese workers that'll end up having to "recycle" it too)

Re:Which one to laugh at more?

[TemporalBeing]

The reason is simple. You don't make money writing drivers for hardware you've already sold.

False. You don't directly make money writing drivers for hardware you've already sold.
You do make money by encouraging buyers to come back due to your great support (including continuing to provide updated drivers) for products already sold.

And yes, this is one reason why I haven't bought another tablet yet. I'm not seeing the kind of support I'd like to, even among higher end tablets.
And yes, I especially would expect it with more traditional computers (laptops, desktops).

Re:Which one to laugh at more?

[thegarbz]

Still no Windows 10 drivers after a year from release, for a cheap model of laptop they might have pushed out 5-7 years ago, which was only certified for Windows 7? Yeah, not really surprising.

Really? Not surprising? How hard is it to make a driver work with a certain driver model? No serious question. I'm on Windows 10 using some hardware from the XP era. Now I understand maybe the argument for Samsung attempting to force upgrades, but in terms of effort I think this is a poor excuse.

Re:Which one to laugh at more?

[geoskd]

You do make money by encouraging buyers to come back due to your great support (including continuing to provide updated drivers) for products already sold.

While nice sounding in theory, the marketing types have discovered through significant research that this simply isnt the case any more. People have very little brand loyalty these days. The few companies that are able to trade on it, do, but almost all of the established players burned their credibility long ago, and the cost of rebuilding that credibility is vastly more than the reputation would be worth. In short, electronics have become highly fungible. People don't expect them to last more than a few years, but they do expect them to be quite cheap. The few exceptions out there (like apple) are only one serious mis-step away from loosing their credibility and ending up wallowing in the mud with the rest of the players.

Re:Which one to laugh at more?

[squiggleslash]

I wouldn't consider "Continuing to run it with Windows 7" "junking" the laptop...

Seems like Samsung is the problem

[sjbe]

The consumer electronics giant's support staff have admitted drivers for its PCs still don't work with Microsoft's newest operating system and told customers they should simply not make the upgrade.

So they've had nearly a year since Windows 10 was released and quite some time before that with betas to figure out how to make their drivers work. Sounds like the problem isn't with Windows 10 but with Samsung being unable to develop quality drivers. Plenty of other companies seem to have figured it out. Basically this tells me to avoid Samsung products. Windows 10 isn't without problems but by and large they don't seem to be technical ones but rather Microsoft being overly aggressive about pushing updates down our throats.

Re:Driver hell is one reason why people buy Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the latest version of OS X only supports Macs since 2012. The laptop on which the article is based on was released in 2010.

They're both right

[Cro Magnon]

We probably should avoid Windows 10. We should also avoid Samsung products.