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

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?

[SQLGuru]

I have a 6yo laptop (Dell, not Samsung) that is on the "Windows 10 not supported" list for Dell and Win10 works just fine. Bash them all you want, but MS does a decent job of supporting really old hardware......in spite of the manufacturers not updating their drivers.

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?

[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: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.