Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[dougSF30]

You need the drivers first to see if they work before you release your OS.

But not the large (in number), small (in usage) tail of the distribution. Cover 99% of the hardware usage out there, and then release, and let the other drivers trickle in over the next few months. That's usually how it goes, to some degree or other.

losing the ability of adding any component you could think of which might be needed later?

Not really. You don't have a guarantee, of course, but if the OS goes anywhere, most of the remaining drivers (unless the hardware is ancient) will show up later.

Microsoft would be nuts to release such an animal. It would make it one friend and many enemies. Couple of them would sue MS as well, or force it to do the same for them.

It's just a matter of extent. They did this with XP. We're not talking supporting ATI and not nVidia, but they don't need to support every obscure soundcard at launch. And good luck to any small hardware company attempting to sue MS because they didn't have their drivers ready on time!

Doug