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If you were an early Windows Vista adopter, you might have had a rough time with Microsoft’s newest operating system last year. Crashes? System hangs? BSODs? Shockingly, Microsoft isn’t at fault for your less than perfect experience. Ars Technica has reported that a 158-page bundle of email correspondence (PDF) regarding the ongoing “Vista Capable” lawsuit has been made public. The data reveals that NVIDIA accounted for 28.8% of Windows Vista crashes last year. In total, 1,663,748 system crashes had been reported to Microsoft in 2007 and NVIDIA was the problem in 479,000 of those cases. In comparison, Microsoft was responsible for 19.9%, ATI took 9.3%, and Intel with 8.8%.

Microsoft was quick to release a statement:

“Microsoft takes exhaustive steps in testing hardware compatibility internally, as well as by working directly with our partners, to address compatibility long before customers experience an issue,” the software maker said. “However, testing can only be conducted under so many different circumstances, particularly with such an exceptionally complex code that graphic drivers have. Understanding this, Microsoft has set up a system to help quickly identify the problems, work to fix them and, if warranted, potentially push them through to customers via Windows Update. NVIDIA has taken similar steps, and since launching Windows Vista, Microsoft has seen great progress in addressing potential issues by NVIDIA.”

I find it quite in good faith for Microsoft to retain itself from blasting NVIDIA for possibly being the root of Vista’s public impression of being unstable. But who is really to blame here? NVIDIA or Microsoft? I place fault equally between the two companies: NVIDIA for releasing drivers that lacked proper testing and Microsoft for their failure to provide adequate support to its third party vendors. While the data is an eye opener, it is important to note a few points:

1. Companies are pretty much guaranteed to suffer issues whenever they launch a new product, particularly software. NVIDIA is no exception and their eager venture to make drivers for Microsoft’s newest operating system was impossible to be bug free early on.
2. Before the ATI fanboys rave in, NVIDIA owns a larger portion of the graphics card market than ATI. So, it shouldn’t come to a surprise that NVIDIA has caused the most problems.
3. The information released is a year old. NVIDIA, as well as the other vendors, have since made significant improvements to their drivers. In fact, NVIDIA has responded to the news by creating a website that allow users to easily report any driver issues they come across.

The information came into light after a federal judge gave the green light for a class action suit to continue against Microsoft, which was filed in April 2007. The lawsuit argued that the software giant misled consumers with its “Windows Vista Capable” promotion program. In 2006, the program placed “Vista Capable” stickers along with a “Premium Ready” phrase on various retail computers that gave the impression to consumers that the machines were capable of running Vista, including the top-of-the-line version of the OS. However, that proved not to be the case, as consumers began complaining that their Vista-capable machines could not run more than Vista Basic—a clear misuse of the company’s use of the “Premium Ready” notation. The early emails that were submitted as evidence revealed that Microsoft caved in to Intel by lowering Vista’s graphics requirements, making it easier for computers integrated with Intel’s weak graphics chip to get the Vista Capable sticker.

Read [Ars Technica]

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