[Ars] Should we be required to create an account to get drivers?

[SirPauly]

.

Again, this is better for customers how?

Pretty simple -- ease of use and value.

 

[tential]

Pretty simple -- ease of use and value.

I see it as nvidia wants to make it easier for their average customer, and they want a benefit from it...
Give and take.
Imo an email address you never use is worth it.

 

[Excessi0n]

"Ease of use" is a heaping pile of bovine excrement. You can already use GFE to automatically download the latest drivers if you don't want to download it manually. Now they are going to require you to give them your email address to do the same exact thing, and are removing the ability to get the latest drivers manually.

They aren't making it easier to use. They're making it harder to use by requiring email registration, and at the same time they're penalizing anybody who cares about privacy by preventing them from manually downloading the latest drivers.

This isn't about ease of use. It's about getting those precious email addresses for marketing purposes.

 

[AnandThenMan]

^^ I agree and I also think it's about conditioning people to be dependent on GFE then they will start charging for timely driver updates.

 

[bystander36]

^^ I agree and I also think it's about conditioning people to be dependent on GFE then they will start charging for timely driver updates.

I think anyone thinking they will charge for drivers is out of their mind. The only companies who charge for software are software companies. This is a hardware company. They don't need to charge for drivers.

 

[96Firebird]

Ah, the fear mongering...

 

[bystander36]

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if they charged for things like Shadowplay, but you can't sell hardware without the drivers that go with it. There is pretty much no way they could justify charging for drivers.

 

[AnandThenMan]

This is a hardware company.

Nvidia is a software company, Jen-Hsun Huang's own words. He has more than once talked about leveraging the hardware in the same way Apple does, software driving growth and allowing differentiation. As Jensen put it anyone can make hardware.

 

[Genx87]

Nvidia is a software company, Jen-Hsun Huang's own words. He has more than once talked about leveraging the hardware in the same way Apple does, software driving growth and allowing differentiation. As Jensen put it anyone can make hardware.

Nvidia isnt going to charge for their drivers. Jen-Hsun is talking about leveraging software like PhysX, Gameworks, and CUDA to drive hardware sales.

 

[bystander36]

Nvidia is a software company, Jen-Hsun Huang's own words. He has more than once talked about leveraging the hardware in the same way Apple does, software driving growth and allowing differentiation. As Jensen put it anyone can make hardware.

I doubt they could legally charge for drivers, as they are a requirement to use the hardware.

I could see the possibility of charging for extra software, like Shadowplay, but drivers, no way in hell.

 

[Excessi0n]

I don't think they'll do it, but it wouldn't be hard to have tiered drivers or some sort of subscription for access to the game-ready drivers.

 

[Sabrewings]

and at the same time they're penalizing anybody who cares about privacy by preventing them from manually downloading the latest drivers.

Step 1 - Create bogus Gmail account
Step 2 - Plug said Gmail account into GFE
Step 3 - Profit?

 

[SirPauly]

"Ease of use" is a heaping pile of bovine excrement. You can already use GFE to automatically download the latest drivers if you don't want to download it manually. Now they are going to require you to give them your email address to do the same exact thing, and are removing the ability to get the latest drivers manually.

They aren't making it easier to use. They're making it harder to use by requiring email registration, and at the same time they're penalizing anybody who cares about privacy by preventing them from manually downloading the latest drivers.

This isn't about ease of use. It's about getting those precious email addresses for marketing purposes.

Ease of use, defined as making it easier to improve the experience for their customers.

Value, defined as to continue to innovate and offer features that improve the experience.

If Nvidia continues to build upon these two facets, people may not mind giving up an email address to have the latest drivers and abilities.

 

[amenx]

Step 1 - Create bogus Gmail account
Step 2 - Plug said Gmail account into GFE
Step 3 - Profit?

Throwaway email addresses have been suggested several times. But continually ignored by those who just want to make a big issue out of nothing. I also have to wonder if anyone could realistically believe a company that depends almost wholly on hardware sales could ever charge for drivers that are required for the hardware to function properly.

 

[nurturedhate]

Throwaway email addresses have been suggested several times. But continually ignored by those who just want to make a big issue out of nothing. I also have to wonder if anyone could realistically believe a company that depends almost wholly on hardware sales could ever charge for drivers that are required for the hardware to function properly.

Not standard drivers, but "Game Ready/Performance Drivers" yes absolutely. Never underestimate anyone where profit is the main objective. If something can be monetized and the market will bear it then a company will. This is a very basic/fundamental part of economics.

 

[SirPauly]

One may have to offer some serious, compelling reasons to charge even more for drivers and abilities than there is. Gamers are already paying more of a premium now, over-all, for the nVidia ecosystem and nVidia is enjoying record revenue.

 

[Ranulf]

Throwaway email addresses have been suggested several times. But continually ignored by those who just want to make a big issue out of nothing. I also have to wonder if anyone could realistically believe a company that depends almost wholly on hardware sales could ever charge for drivers that are required for the hardware to function properly.

Throwaway email argument is pointless when you have to sign into the program with said email address account to get drivers. That will be tied to your IP. Why do I need a steam/origin etc. type system to get drivers? Especially if I have no need for all the features offered with GeForce Experience?

 

[Teizo]

Not standard drivers, but "Game Ready/Performance Drivers" yes absolutely. Never underestimate anyone where profit is the main objective. If something can be monetized and the market will bear it then a company will. This is a very basic/fundamental part of economics.

You guys are genuinely off your rocker if you think the market will tolerate such a foolish act.

It's not going to happen, and if it ever does PC gaming will die/will be dead.

 

[nurturedhate]

You guys are genuinely off your rocker if you think the market will tolerate such a foolish act.

It's not going to happen, and if it ever does PC gaming will die/will be dead.

The market not only tolerated but flooded Nvidia with money when they doubled the cost of the flagship part from one generation to the next. What is another $20-30 a year for Game Ready drivers.

People will be saying how the quarterly drivers are just fine for the MAJORITY of people.

 

[railven]

The market not only tolerated but flooded Nvidia with money when they doubled the cost of the flagship part from one generation to the next. What is another $20-30 a year for Game Ready drivers.

People will be saying how the quarterly drivers are just fine for the MAJORITY of people.

I don't think that's accurate. The market flooded NV because of a lot of events that sort of bit AMD in the ass.

When you only have two options to pick from, the one that is getting more glowing reviews and word of mouth is going to win your dollar (I'm referring to the greater population.)

I doubt anyone said "yo NV raised the price, I'm going to buy them!" Only us nerds even know what really happened in regards to price and tiers.

EDIT: And honestly speaking even as someone who bought HD 7970, AMD was the catalyst to NV jacking up the price. If the 7970 wasn't $550 and launched at closer to what HD 6970/5870 cost, that is perhaps $350-400 max, I doubt GTX 680 would have cost $500. NV would have probably gone for $300-350 to undercut AMD. But AMD went for the stars, and NV followed.

 

[Techhog]

The market not only tolerated but flooded Nvidia with money when they doubled the cost of the flagship part from one generation to the next. What is another $20-30 a year for Game Ready drivers.

People will be saying how the quarterly drivers are just fine for the MAJORITY of people.

I don't play games quarterly. The day this happens is the day I sell my PC.

Fanboys really think that anything is okay... Everyone saying something like this is going straight to my ignore list because you are not worth listening to.

 

[nurturedhate]

I don't play games quarterly. The day this happens is the day I sell my PC.

Fanboys really think that anything is okay... Everyone saying something like this is going straight to my ignore list because you are not worth listening to.

Maybe I am crazy but I truly hope you are not implying I want paid for drivers to happen.

 

[SirPauly]

You guys are genuinely off your rocker if you think the market will tolerate such a foolish act.

It's not going to happen, and if it ever does PC gaming will die/will be dead.

I realize this may be semantics, but the market already tolerates it by paying more for the Nvidia brand name which is a combination of hardware and software, the Nvidia ecosystem. The investments in software have helped their overall margins.

 

[Techhog]

Maybe I am crazy but I truly hope you are not implying I want paid for drivers to happen.

You're implying that it wouldn't be a big deal.

 

[nurturedhate]

You're implying that it wouldn't be a big deal.

Maybe you should go read this thread if that is what you think.

Maybe it's me, maybe english isn't your first language? I'm honestly not sure how you claim to this conclusion but the bottom line is this would be a terrible thing to happen. We have people in this thread going up and down about how this will never happen, it will if we allow it. People need to stop being passive about issues like this.