nVidia Signing Drivers To Stop Leaks

[Shagga]

Got this from Icrontic



<< I've heard from a reliable source that nVidia has started to digitally sign the beta drivers they release to developers in an attempt to stop the leaks. If one of the developers does leak the driver, nVidia will be able to tell who leaked it and penalize them. Anyhow, this will serously cut down on driver leaks, so get used to the official drivers boys and girls. >>



I really like all the leaks. They must help nVidia as opposed to hinder driver development surely! :frown:

 

[UberNeuman]

Sounds like what ATI just did.... Don't know why they'd do it for... Anyone downloading leaked drivers understands the chance they're taking when installing them...

 

[MasterHoss]

Damn. I agree with Shagga. On top of that, surely, nVidia sort of monitored what happened to performance/stability as the millions of users would try out each beta driver. I firmly believe that's why nVidia's Windows drivers are generally very reliable and stable.

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

many people upgrade drivers without needing too and then complain that they drivers aren't any good...

Nvidia doesn't want its product assocated with people complaining about poor drivers even if they are beta.

 

[Finality]

<< many people upgrade drivers without needing too and then complain that they drivers aren't any good... >>

I would easily agree with that statement. All the haters seem to complain about Beta drivers and how nvidia "leaks them". I very much doubt they leak them. Besides most of the updates are meant to improve stability/performance for a specific rendering technique. Its the developers that would monitor and report back.

The only postive thing that comes to mind as to the leak situation would be the nv4 display loop bug which a lot of people (myself included) reported. 99.99999% of the people out there whos machine would crashed would just say "Damn must be those new 2X.XX drivers, damn nvidia and there leaks". You dig? Nvidia never benifitted from driver leaks all it did was create a PR nightmare.

I mean seriously for those that did have there machine crash with a new Nvidia driver did you do anything other than b|tch about it?

 

[Rahminator]

<<

<< many people upgrade drivers without needing too and then complain that they drivers aren't any good... >>

I would easily agree with that statement. All the haters seem to complain about Beta drivers and how nvidia "leaks them". I very much doubt they leak them. Besides most of the updates are meant to improve stability/performance for a specific rendering technique. Its the developers that would monitor and report back.

The only postive thing that comes to mind as to the leak situation would be the nv4 display loop bug which a lot of people (myself included) reported. 99.99999% of the people out there whos machine would crashed would just say "Damn must be those new 2X.XX drivers, damn nvidia and there leaks". You dig? Nvidia never benifitted from driver leaks all it did was create a PR nightmare.

I mean seriously for those that did have there machine crash with a new Nvidia driver did you do anything other than b|tch about it? >>



Your point is moot as infinite loop errors started with official release drivers (2 releases ago, forgot exact version).

 

[ViRGE]

<< Your point is moot as infinite loop errors started with official release drivers (2 releases ago, forgot exact version). >>


21.83

 

[BFG10K]

What a stupid idea.

If people download leaked drivers there's obviously a good reason for it. Either they need them or they want to test them (like me).

Both of those kinds of people will be upset by this news.

 

[rockhard]

If NVidia want to reduce useage of beta's, why dont they release more frequent official drivers?
Im currently sitting on the 27.00 beta's so that my rig doesnt crash if i move a video into my second display by mistake.
Ive been waiting weeks for an official release of the nView drivers theyre bragging about in their PR
If it wasnt for the leaks i'd be up the river without a paddle so to speak

 

[JayPatel]

i would beleive that the bad driver/product association is what nvidia is trying to get away from, also leaked drivers provide info about upcoming features and products which is also hurt the company in the end.

 

[Lord Evermore]

<< why dont they release more frequent official drivers >>



There's a reason they call them beta drivers. They're NOT READY FOR RELEASE. You're using circular reasoning. They can't just accelerate the driver development because you don't like the current official drivers. Beta drivers are the ones they're already testing to see if they can be made official. Would you rather they just start calling them official and let people "leak" the alpha's?

What are you all going to do? Stop using nVidia cards because you can't get leaked drivers?

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

<< If people download leaked drivers there's obviously a good reason for it. Either they need them or they want to test them (like me). >>



Part of the problem (i believe) is that people are downloading the beta drivers as the latest version (either knowing or otherwise) and they aren't preforming as expected.

A guy at work was telling just last week he was running 27.xx drivers on his win2k system telling me they were the lastest version and he had upgraded to get better preformance from his geforce 2 pro.

 

[joohang]

I personally find this a good and smart move.

 

[Sunner]

I think they should just have a beta page in their site where they could let people download beta drivers, but with a bigass disclaimer.

That way they could benefit from the feedback of users testing the drivers, and still keep thing under control.

 

[capodeloscapos]

I can´t believe it; i thought that Nvidia was an intelligent company, well I think starting to act as a Monopoly, stopping people´s activity and not letting them think.
Beta drivers estimulates Brain´s people, but when Peolple start to use their brain, they are "subversive".

 

[MCS]

Doesn't worry me in the slightest. I used to install every new driver to see if I would get any more performance but these days I can't be bothered. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I installed the 21.81 drivers under Windows XP when they came and they have been running perfectly so I have stuck with them. Before that, under Windows 98 I stuck with the 6.31 drivers for months and months. I just do not see the point of all the hassle to gain 25 3DMarks and find that one of my games is now buggy instead...bit cynical I know but still

Drivers get too much hype sometimes - if you have a specific/annoying problem then this is a good reason to upgrade I think, or to gain support for a new card...