[mschuster91]

That's always the case, even on Windows, even on Linux for closed-source third party drivers. The only exception is macOS because Apple insists on writing the drivers themselves - that was, in addition to Soldergate, the reason why Apple dropped NVIDIA.

[ifh-hn]

Are apples drivers open source?

[AnthonyMouse]

No. Which is why "the only exception is macOS" is also false. At some point Apple drops support for that model and then that hardware not only gets no more driver updates, because the whole system is tied to the rest of it, it gets no more updates at all.

So the only exception is systems with open source drivers. Those are basically supported as long as the hardware architecture is and enthusiasts even have the option of adding support themselves. You can install the latest version of many Linux distributions on the first generation of x86-64 hardware from 2003 and some on 32-bit PC hardware going back to the 1980s.

It should literally be a crime that you can't do the same thing on a five year old phone.

[mschuster91]

My point is that with macOS, Apple writes the drivers which means at least as long as the hardware is supported you can be pretty sure that there will be prompt fixes for any issue. With Android, Windows or closed-source Linux drivers (cough NVIDIA) you're left entirely at the mercy of whoever made the tiny little component controlled by the driver to provide a fix, which then has to bubble up through the ODM/OEM until it finally appears in an update you can install.

If you want fast responses to driver bugs, you only have Apple or a fully open-source Linux systems as an option.

[ifh-hn]

I can't see how the situation with apple is any better considering what you've said, you're still beholden to apple to provide a fix. Even if that fix might be quicker coming IF apple is currently supporting the device; not at all otherwise.

[mschuster91]

> I can't see how the situation with apple is any better

Because in the Windows world, there often are no updates after maybe 1, 2 years. Chances are high, if you look in Device Manager of any reasonably new system, you'll find a lot of drivers dating back to before Covid and that's 5 years ago. Chances are even higher that if you look close enough, you'll find something being exploitable.

With Apple? Their track record for support is around 7 years.

[AnthonyMouse]

Let's concede that Windows sucks.

If you have macOS, it's supported until the OEM (Apple) stops supporting it. If you have Linux with some proprietary driver, it's supported until the OEM (e.g. Nvidia) stops supporting it. If you have Linux with open source drivers, it keeps working pretty much indefinitely.

Meanwhile 10+ year old hardware is serviceable for many uses. A 15 year old machine from the scrap heap could have 64GB of RAM, a different one could have a low idle power draw for a use where that's the only thing that matters. Put a cheap SSD in a machine of that vintage and someone who is just using web and email could keep using it for the rest of their life.