Then stop upgrading the kernel. M$ doesn't update their kernel as often as Linux does so ancient Windows drivers on old hardware stick around longer. I've even heard people buy new hardware, then whine because the maker doesn't provide a driver for Winblows 3.11! IMHO, Windows drivers have an artificially long lifespan due to M$ not fixing things that are known to be broken. Linux is more fluid because the kernel gang never stops tweaking things in an effort to make things better, faster, more reliable, etc., etc.
Rick, you are mixing apples, bananas and oranges here. Mixing them might only produce interesting juice drink or fruit sallad. Nothing more.
Lifespan of Windows operating systems (all 2 1/2 of them: DOS, Win9x (I count this one as 1/2), and NT) has nothing to do with Microsoft fixing or not fixing the bugs, or longevity (or lack of) device driver API. You can fix the bugs and have stable device driver API. You can never fix bugs and have unstable device driver API. One has nothing to do with another. As an example of operating system where bugs are fixed, new features and improvements added regullary, and stable device driver API is maintained, take a look at Solaris. Commercial companies don't like unstable APIs. And that is the real (and only) reason why Linux is so poorly supported by them. I find it sad that Linux developers have choosen hard-line approach in regards to companies that actually make hardware. Hoping they will embrace open-source as the only way to make software is silly (to say it politely). Ultimatums never yield solutions (or at least not good/optimal solutions). Especially not when you don't have a big stick to wield around when making ultimatums (remember, Microsoft is the one holding that big stick right now and for forseable future).
And yes, I strongly beleive that unstable device driver API in Linux is more result of political (as opposed to technical) decisions. There's really not that many ways interaction between kernel core and device driver can be implemented to handle an interrupt, or schedule DMA transfer, or access device's registers and/or memory. And most of them are really not any better than the others.
-- Aleksandar Milivojevic <amilivojevic@xxxxxx> Pollard Banknote Limited Systems Administrator 1499 Buffalo Place Tel: (204) 474-2323 ext 276 Winnipeg, MB R3T 1L7
