Replies to post #10034 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[sgolds]

tek_prophet, while I basically agree, there is one statement you made which I can't let go by without comment:

Now I am not saying that every device will have drivers, in fact, most older devices probably will not. However, I think that all new devices will offer drivers, in the same way as they are offered for Macs or Linux PCs.

NO! NO! Nooooo!!!

The drivers will be professionally built, based on existing Windows drivers, and actually supported. NOT provided by an enthusiast crowd, barely supported and rarely updated.

Just had to mention that.

P.S.: Most common hardware these days conforms to Windows specifications so they can use Microsoft drivers unmodified. Your DVD-RW, CD-RW, hard disk, mouse device (optical, wireless or other) - in fact, just about every common device except video generally just uses Microsoft drivers. Video, as you said, will be optimized since they appeal to the enthusiast crowd.

More obscure hardware will follow.

[wbmw]

TP, Re: Slowly but surely other manufacturers will want to play in the rich sand box and within a year or two the driver set will be essentially complete.

It took that long for Windows 2000 to get comfortable driver support. I see little evidence at this point to suggest that Windows 64 will have the same push that Win2k had.

[Windsock]

Your scenario is totally unrealistic. When Windows NT was introduced drivers proved to be a big headache. Even hardware that was provided with NT drivers was very hard to connect in many cases. It took years to sort this out.