Intel already has Windows 7 drivers

Intel has a series of ‘pre-production’ drivers for its graphics chipsets in Windows 7. It’s a clear attempt to avoid the incompatibility problems which plagues Vista.

Though the next edition of Windows isn’t even at beta stage yet, Intel has announced:

Intel is making available for testing its preproduction WDDM1.1 graphics driver, enabling the full Windows 7 experience. The driver is the result of an ongoing collaboration with Microsoft to provide OEMs and developers with drivers that deliver all of the required WDDM1.1 features for Windows 7. As a result of the collaboration, OEMs and beta users can stay in step with Windows 7 prereleases for smooth product development.

To explain the jargon, drivers are the link between hardware and Windows, while WDDM is Windows’ Display Driver Model, the overall system for graphics drivers that was introduced in Vista and continued in Windows 7.

OEMs are Original Equipment Manufacturers: in other words, firms which make computer parts (or entire machines) that are then usually sold on by other manufacturers.

In short, the announcement means Intel is taking serious steps to make sure its chips work properly in Windows 7. If there are any problems, it wants plenty of time to sort them out before the official release.

The announcement is also a sign that Microsoft promises to do a better job of working with hardware firms to ensure driver compatibility are being followed through. Many manufacturers complained that they didn’t have enough notice of driver requirements for Vista, which led to incompatibility.

And while a few such problems might have seen the device producers blamed for shoddy work, the Vista issues were so widespread that the operating system itself bore the brunt of most public discontent. So Microsoft has as much, if not more motivation to avoid such problems this month.

Of course, Intel is such a major player that Microsoft has to keep it happy (witness the debacle over Intel chips which weren’t ‘Vista capable’). The real test is whether Microsoft gives the same level of timely cooperation to smaller manufacturers.

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• Upgrading drivers in Vista can lead to deactivation
• Faulty drivers bypass Vista’s kernel protection
• Microsoft stretched ‘Capable’ criteria to help Intel
• Free Vista Sunday, backup drivers with DriverMax
• Vista rejected by Intel for all time