Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (
More info?)
" HW mfgs stop providing new fixes/versions at some point and often that's
before MS does." Huh? This gives me the impression that Microsoft has a whole
bunch of worker bees scrutinizing the drivers and fixing them up. And we are
supposed to think that Microsoft is so gracious and caring that they would do
this? Sure! I'd like to buy the Brooklyn Bridge while we're at it, too.
First, to get hardware device drivers onto the Windows installation CD and or to
get the latest versions of drivers onto the Microsoft update site, the chipset
developers (e.g, Intel and VIA for motherboards; Intel, ATI and nVidia for
graphics; Intel, 3com, Realtek for network cards; Conexant and PCTel for modems;
Creative and ADI for audio) first pay Microsoft for the privilege of including
the drivers on the install CD, then they pay to have each edition of drivers
tested in Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL), and they probably
pay by the megabyte for space on the update web site. WHQL DOES run some
pretty extensive tests on the drivers before they are affixed with an electronic
WHQL certificate and made available as updates.
Why are updates even done by the hardware manufacturers? Three reasons. The
one most people should be concerned about is to fix defects. The next is to fix
glaring performance problems, such as those revealed recently by a 3rd party
company testing network drivers. The third, usually the case for ATI, nVidia
and Intel, is to incorporate new hardware into an omnibus driver, i.e. a single
driver set that supports a wide variety of chips. Examples are Intel's
800-series motherboard chipsets and nVidia's family of graphics chips.
Many hardware manufacturers, especially those of low-volume devices such as
scanners and special purpose printers, often do not submit their drivers to WHQL
because it is too expensive to do so.
Hardware manufacturers often augment their driver sets with additional
utilities, which you will not find on the Microsoft update site. Examples might
be better fine-tuning of graphics capabilities (ATI, nVidia, Matrox) and
additional audio features (ADI and Creative).
Now where is it that the supposed Microsoft hardware driver developers enter
into play in the above scenario??? ... Ben Myers
On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:04:39 GMT, "fred" <fred@hotmaim.con> wrote:
>
>"NoNoBadDog!" <no_bsledge@spam_verizon.net> wrote in message
>news:io3qe.23851$KQ2.14967@trnddc08...
>>
>> <axipolti@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1118355903.484653.169470@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> > Boy am I confused.
>> >
>> > Hi,
>> > I saw the MS yellow shield which indicated an MS download is awaiting.
>> > I clicked on it and a large gray dialog box asked if I wish to download
>> > DELL graphics drivers.
>> >
>> > I clicked YES and waited a second or two and then received a dialog box
>> > that advised the downloads could NOT be done...no explanation!!
>> >
>> > What gives. I removed all programs that were running in the back ground
>> > before I tried the downloads.
>> >
>> > Mike
>> >
>> You should never download MS drivers for your hardware.
>
>Wrong, always use drivers recommended by MS Update -after- you've updated
>to the latest Dell stuff.
>
>> Always use those
>> supplied by the manufacturer (Dell).
>
>First but not only. HW mfgs stop providing new fixes/versions at some point
>and often that's before MS does.
>
>> The MS drivers are not the same as
>> those supplied by Dell, and may degrade the performance of your computer.
>
>Nonsense.
>
>
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