Maybe Brother's own printer driver developers couldn't afford to wait for the certification process of their drivers by Microsoft's certified hardware labs. The hardware OEM has to follow 8 steps outlined in this URL.
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/getstart/testing.mspx After rigid testing and interrigation of the drivers next the OEM follows these steps in order to get its drivers qualified my Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/getstart/qualify.mspx Every Hardware manufacturer has to study, apply, test and qualify for the Microsoft Windows Hardware Logo Program through WHQL (Windows hardware Quality Labs). Now you can see why it takes so long for the OEM to release their hardware drivers to RTM and why it takes future versions of Windows so long to get from release to production RTM. Microsoft and hardware/software OEMs communicate on a regular basis between each other to see how compatible their drivers are with Windows by shipping copies of the OS to the hardware and software OEMs on its list. All through out the development process as each new OS build is beta tested by the the OEMs, the OEMs test their newest builds of drivers against the beta OS and send feedback to Microsoft to ensure compatibility and catch any bugs that may crop up. If any bugs do appear the OEMs report all instances to Microsoft no matter how small or big they may be Microsoft usually, in some cases, finalizes the OS build when its reaches R2 once the beta OS has been rigorously tested by all the qualified OEMs on its list and the OEMs send the final test results with their certified drivers to Microsoft to be included in the final driver database once all (if not some) of the bugs have been eliminated. Once Microsoft confirms that all its OEM partners have submitted the final results and if they all return positive then Microsoft at its own discretion will issue either a public beta or CTP (Corporate or Consumer Test Preview) depending upon which group, Corporate or Consumer that they wish to choose to perform the tests. I've read that there's been a lot of debate on the Microsoft Watch website wether or not Microsoft will issue any more public betas of its future OS and Office/server products in the future and instead replace it with CTPs. Microsoft developers claim that throught the use of CTPs instead of public betas test results based on feedback is rapid and will accelerate the beta product toward a shorter RTM window. Public betas says Microsoft only stiffle test feeback and slow it down becuase the people in the CTP group are more committed to the test than the people in the public beta group. But in the future the CTP vs. Public Beta debate goes on but we shall see. Marc Sims Data Technician I Prince George's Community College >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tuesday, April 25, 2006 >>> Rick Glazier worte: > I look to see who wrote the drivers MS is giving out... > I get video drivers ONLY from the original manufacturers site. > (Been burned a couple times by MS with "ATI" cards.) This is good advice, and regarding the video drivers, as a fellow ATI sufferer, I agree - it is best to pick up the video drivers directly from the vendor. Speaking of printer drivers, I've got a Brother multi-fuction printer where Brother supplies both Windows Certified drivers and their own souped up drivers (have some additional features) that aren't certified. I went with the non-certified drivers, but couldn't help thinking why'd the heck did they do that? -- ---------------------------------------- To Change your email Address for this list, send the following message: CHANGE WIN-HOME your_old_address your_new_address to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Note carefully that both old and new addresses are required.
