Gene Fitzpatrick

Oh John, Not to sound pessimistic, but mark my words. Many legacy items will
not have drivers made for Vista. I know that sounds bad, and it sounds rude,
but look at it from a business point of view. As you said earlier, it is
just the opportunity that these companies need to push new gear.
It is an idea that personally, I have mixed feelings about. I am not a
gamer, and until I started using Vista, I was more than happy with my
on-board video card. After using vista, I was more or less forced to get a
new card, a 7600GS, and I must say, I never understood the importance, but I
can tell you that I see the difference in performance.
No doubt, there will be some who curse the new expensive upgrades, but I
feel most will be pleasently surprised as I was, and impressed. It will also
educate folks, like myself on the importance of the idea, "Better gear makes
a better computer."

But hey, what do I know?

"John C." <JohnC@noemail.noemail> wrote in message
news:adgcm2ppt21udk9oamq7e5j9gvlnj3nb4e@4ax.com...
> It almost seems like it would be in hardware makers' best interest NOT
> to release Vista drivers for legacy hardware. This will force users
> to buy shiny new "Vista Compatible" hardware. Of course they risk
> alienating loyal users at the same time.
>
> Betas of Vista have been available for a year or more, you would think
> the hardware makers would have their drivers ready to go at RTM time.
> They probably wait until RTM to start development. Even nVidia seems
> to be in a sorry state, their Vista video drivers are terrible
> performance wise and they don't even have a driver for their flagship
> 8800 product.
>
> Total lack of x64 drivers killed XP x64. Hopefully we'll see this
> change since just about all new PCs are x64 capable.
>
> On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 20:31:53 -0800, "JW" <nospam@no.spam> wrote:
>
>>Well we will just have to see which manufacturres really care about their
>>business customer users that are using their hardware on November 30th.
>>"Gene" <gene_fitz(nospam)@comcast.net> wrote in message
>>news:3FE1281E-625F-4A8C-8A18-844FBB1A6687@microsoft.com...
>>> I'm sorry, I don't really know what to tell you other than to keep
>>> checking with the manufacturers.
>>>
>>> Sadly, with each new release of an operating system, you will have some
>>> hardware and software manufacturers that will go above and beyond.
>>> Companies like nVidia who really push the make-ready process, and you
>>> have
>>> companies like HP, who will drag their feet to the very last minutes,
>>> and
>>> sometimes too long.
>>> Sadly, it is the perrogative of the manufacturer. Microsoft, I am sure
>>> is
>>> doing all they can to try to help folks, but they are helpless when it
>>> comes to the companies who create the drivers.
>>>
>>> I'm in the same boat you are, I still have some equipment begging for
>>> drivers, and most of my favorite software is useless right now. I just
>>> keep on checking and hoping.
>>>
>>> Wish I could be more help.
>>>
>>> "mlai" <mlai@community.nospam> wrote in message
>>> news:%23AUmAJgDHHA.1196@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>> That's what we've been doing to all the vendors for the past few
>>>> months.
>>>> However, a lot of the vendors are holding the lame view that "Vista is
>>>> not out yet and we will support it when it is out or SHORTLY THERE
>>>> AFTER". Their way of saying "yeah, we will TRY to support it when it is
>>>> out or 6 months after......."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Gene" <gene_fitz(nospam)@comcast.net> wrote in message
>>>> news:47814DC2-DD0B-4EF8-AD10-D2084334A758@microsoft.com...
>>>>> The best way to remedy this issue is to constantly check your hardware
>>>>> providers and bug them for Vista drivers. Microsoft can throw in a
>>>>> host
>>>>> of generic drivers, but there simply is just not enough disk space to
>>>>> put all hardware drivers, not to mention, it is nearly impossible to
>>>>> create advanced generic drivers that will work with all equipment.
>>>>> On the brighter side though, the fuse is a burning. Time is running
>>>>> out,
>>>>> and the hardware manufacturers have the pressure on. 2 months till
>>>>> release date, I have a feeling in the next 30 to 45 days, you will see
>>>>> a
>>>>> lot of completed drivers showing up all over the place.
>>>>>
>>>>> I know that doesn't help much, but it may offer a little hope. :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> "mlai" <mlai@community.nospam> wrote in message
>>>>> news:O1kRmBeDHHA.4508@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>>>> Granted Vista has more hardware support than XP at launch...... The
>>>>>> hardware being supported are mostly legacy stuff and the newer stuffs
>>>>>> are not supported as well. I figure that I may start a list of
>>>>>> problems:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Creative XFi cards:
>>>>>> Creative claims that (which is quite true) Directsound hardware
>>>>>> acceleration will not work with Vista, and trying to move all the
>>>>>> people to OpenAL. Also, DTS decoding will not be supported via the
>>>>>> soundcard software. Beta drivers are available but I seriously doubt
>>>>>> if they will put out reliable drivers until months after release. I
>>>>>> am
>>>>>> only saying drivers, none of the applications that came on the
>>>>>> installation CDs will work with Vista and they haven't done anything
>>>>>> about that yet.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ATI:
>>>>>> AVIVO still missing for Vista. But there is hope as ATI puts out
>>>>>> monthly releases pretty routinely.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Logitech:
>>>>>> Vista support is claimed to be somewhat available in December. But
>>>>>> no
>>>>>> one has even remotely seen or talked about any alpha drivers. So not
>>>>>> hopeful at all. In fact, I am getting rid of as much logitech stuff
>>>>>> as
>>>>>> I possibily can at home....... That includes: webcams, keyboards,
>>>>>> mouse, and remotes......
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Microsoft Hardware:
>>>>>> There is hope. Their website puts out beta for desktop sets
>>>>>> (Intellitype and Intellipoint) now. For their new Lifecams, MS
>>>>>> claims
>>>>>> to have beta available in January, which is a month later then
>>>>>> previously expected according to a post on the VistaTeamBlog by
>>>>>> nWhite.
>>>>>> But rumour has it that a beta is available to Vista technical beta
>>>>>> testers.........
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Pantone Huey:
>>>>>> I use it to calibrate my screen colors. Sent an email to techsup
>>>>>> over
>>>>>> there and they sent a response back within 24hrs. Here is the
>>>>>> response:
>>>>>> Response (JDINGLE) - 11/20/2006 09:26 AM We have tested PANTONE Huey
>>>>>> on
>>>>>> the latest build of Windows Vista, and have found the product to be
>>>>>> fully functional with the exception of the Huey preferences, which do
>>>>>> not seem to be accessible.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We are continuing to test PANTONE Huey, and we are confident that we
>>>>>> will have support for this operating system either at the time of its
>>>>>> release, or shortly thereafter.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So there is hope.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> HP AIO Printers:
>>>>>> Drivers (only basic drivers) are incorporated for products out before
>>>>>> 2nd qtrs 2006. But the new products (like the new Photosmart
>>>>>> C6180/5180..... etc), no drivers..... And given their prior track
>>>>>> records (like promising drivers and software for XP x64 by Dec 05 and
>>>>>> delivering in Aug 06). Not having too much faith there.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Asus:
>>>>>> I build my own machines and pretty much all uses Asus motherboards.
>>>>>> However, none of their custom software (BIOS update, system
>>>>>> overclocking and monitoring "AiSuite" or "AiBooster" comes to mine)
>>>>>> have even beta out for vista. The only thing that has beta out is
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> Wifi-AP software and even that is just putting XP drivers in Vista
>>>>>> directories, hardly a beta.......
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Intel:
>>>>>> Probably the best in Vista support. Chipset Utils and IMSM is
>>>>>> available for Vista as I type.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So what does these all mean to me? I have Vista RTM installed on my
>>>>>> Raptor but half of my hardware does not even have beta drivers. So I
>>>>>> guess next year will be the REAL BETA period for system builders like
>>>>>> me........
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The above only contains hardware vendors that pertains to my setups.
>>>>>> YMMV depending on what kind of hardware and how new your platforms
>>>>>> are...... BTW, Vista runs very nicely in VMWare 5.5.3.......
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>