Why only Apple GFX Drivers

[Kimbie]

Had a quick look and I could not see the answer, why does Apple not let nVidia and ATI write and release drivers for the mac range?

Kimbie

 

[maflynn]

If I were to hazard a guess, its because they want the control. They don't want to rely on the vendor for the drivers, possibly delaying or creating buggy drivers.

 

[blomma]

There is zero incentive for nvidia to write the driver, nvidia writes drivers to drive hardware sale. But in the case of mac the fact that a nvidia card sits in it is not the driving force for the sale. But lets say that they would be so inclined to write the driver and take up support for it, were would the talent to do so come from. I don't really see nvidia brimming with top notch software people that can code for the mac at the moment.

Having said that, i'm sure that apple consults with nvidia when creating their drivers for it.

 

[pineapple216]

That's the bussiness-model of Apple. Just as maflynn pointed out. Apple wants to control it herself. To guarantee a good user-experience.

It makes it easier for Apple to fix bugs, and ensure parts of the OS are well integrated with one another.

Control is IMO also the reason why Apple won't let you install OS X on non-Apple hardware.

 

[maflynn]

Apple wants to control it herself. To guarantee a good user-experience.

Herself - Apple's a guy

Regards
Mike

 

[zeemeerman2]

No, maflynn.
Steve Jobs is a guy, and he's married to Apple. His life is now Apple. He and Apple are one.

So, to sum up:
- Steve is not gay (at least, I think. This is an Apple-centralized forum, so no to Steve, therefore he's straight.)
- Steve is married to Apple. That makes Apple female.
- He is now her. Meaning Apple is gender-neuter or both at once.
- He and Apple are one. Therefore, you can leave gender-neuter.

Conclusion: Steve and Apple are both male and female at the same time.

Wait. I think there's an error in my reasoning...

 

[Nermal]

Had a quick look and I could not see the answer, why does Apple not let nVidia and ATI write and release drivers for the mac range?

It's not a matter of not "letting" nVidia/ATI make drivers. Third-parties can make drivers if they wish (there are plenty of third-party devices with their own drivers out there now). There's just little incentive for nVidia or ATI to provide drivers when Apple's ones perform well enough for the vast majority of people.

 

[old-wiz]

Back when I was using Windows (more than 5 years ago) the graphics driver updates were a major source of system instability. The graphics card makers were so obsessed with getting maximum performance for games that they neglected stability. Maybe Apple tries to discourage the graphics card people from providing drivers for OSx.