Slightly off topic but why do we need constantly updated drivers all of the time. If you have working drivers for your graphics card (substitute any hardware) they why do you NEED new drivers to be released. Please note the use of the word working here. If there are faults with the product that can be solved through software then yes they should be fixed. Nvidia have a support website where you can log faults and if Nvidia need to fix the issue by law then they will have to fix them.
No one is going to be spending time improving performance levels of older hardware commercially. This is called capatilism.
Providing of course that you aren't making money from it, which they aren't then I don't see the problem with them modifying install scripts.
I suppose it takes a legal person to define what constitutes a driver, is the .inf file that provides the identity of the card and its capabilities to an OS part of the driver for the card or not.
In there response they say
We are modifying ‘driver .INF file’ because
that is being modded, note the use of the word driver there that ngohq have used. That is the sort of thing that Nvidia's legal experts will jump on. By stating that it is the driver .INF file there is an implication that the file is part of the driver and therefore Nvidia's property. Drivers are more then just one file these days. Are all of the files the driver or just some of them.
It is also interesting to note that ngohq.com advertise optimised drivers, below is taken from there website.
The NGO ATI/NVIDIA Optimized Driver is a modified version of the ATI/NVIDIA ForceWare driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with better performance, image quality and compatibility. The NGO ATI/NVIDIA Optimized Driver can enhance your experience in games, multimedia and general usage. This project is especially suited for enthusiasts and gamers that want to have the best gaming experience.
Reading this they are admitting on a public open website that they are modifying a driver. As the driver is not open source (also a bug bear in the Linux Community) then no one else other then Nvidia has the right to modify them.
Yet in the reponse back they are saying that only modify the installation script and say that this is not part of the driver. How then can they claim an optimised driver.
It will be interesting to see if the others get anything however as they certainly used to mod the .inf files to support older hardware. I am not sure if they still do.
With regards to driver distribution it is hardly likely that Nvidia are going to take action against sites that host and distribute unmodified files.
In todays society sadly then people will still phone Nvidia for issues with modded drivers, and telling them that not offering support is likely to generate complaints, meanwhile it is still taking up commercial resources to deal with. ngohq might have a statement that says no support offered by Nvidia for the modded drivers but who ever reads them, other then lawyers, I know I have never read the license agreement etc.
I know this from personal experience as a firewall support engineer. 1 month after the support had expired with us then a customer phoned in for an issue with there firewall software. I patiently explained to them that the support of the firewall was no longer with us as it had not been renewed with us. I even went further checking on the developers portal for them and confirmed that it was indeed under support, just that it was not with us and referred them to there manager to find out who the manager had renewed with, even suggesting who it might be with based on the information in the portal.
My thanks for this was a stroppy person for 20 minutes on the phone, moaning about our company not caring about it's customers, and that they wouldn't deal with us again, and this because there manager didn't do their job properly, or they couldn't be arsed to read the notice from the manager. In the meantime still had 20 minuts wasted, multiply by the numbers and soon adds up.
I can this sliding into a yah boo you suck argument and thoroughly looking forward to watching it degenerate lower and lower.
This is the best so far IMO
Without these ‘modified drivers’, your customers would file class actions against you. Your users are downloading drivers from our site because you fail to satisfy them, and you ignore them (Unfriendly control panel, Known 7800 GS issues and more)
Then in the article below after saying above that not fixing the Control Panel.
Nvidia Corporation has released a new beta ForceWare driver. This driver is available only for Microsoft Windows 2000/XP. This driver has support for the GeForce 5-8 families. What’s new? Control Panel Bugfix, Improved compatibility for Lost Planet, Numerous game and application compatibility fixes and some more. You can download this driver directly from our fileserver *Hint*.
In one statement say not fixing Control Panel then in the next saying that a new beta has a Control Panel bugfix. Consistency is king in an argument.
Saying a User Interface being unfriendly, it is a personal preference. You say po-tat-o, I say po-tate-o. I don't like Juniper Firewalls interface would like it more like Check Points. Oddly enough a friend who works mainly on Juniper says the opposite.
Other gems so far we have had the
AMD/ATI allow us to do it
They have given you permission to do it. You even have the quote to prove it. Saying your competitor has given us permission why don't you do this is always the best thing to point out to a company threatening legal action.
NVIDIA is working closely with our competitors. They are allowing them to host this kind of files, they are providing them betas to host, they are providing them review samples to promote their sites. Maybe NVIDIA is unaware to the US Antitrust laws, but we have all rights to provide competition in this area.
This is the "Other people do it so it must be OK to do so". Really not even going to go there. So Nvidia are providing other websites with the Beta for hosting, sound like Nvidia are giving them permission to me. Where do ngohq.com get there drivers from, by the sounds of it they go to Nvidia's website and download it, agreeing to Nvidia's download terms and conditions. If you don't agree then don't download.
We are in Israel, local law allows us to distribute.
Where are the servers that you download them from based. Does there local law prevent distribution. This is actually a very good one and does need settling
You are not allowed to stop us competing with other websites that distribute the drivers.
Already said that Nvidia is giving other sites the drivers to host. Not stopping them competeing saying that they don't have the right to distribute Nvidia's software.
We will also make sure to fill a complaint in the US DOJ regarding your abuse and possible antitrust violations. We will also tell them about the following:
* Possible use of illegal blackmail tactics against the press.
* Possible use of illegal The Way It's Meant To Be Played program to gain unfair advantage and abuse the open market.
* Possible use of illegal false advertisement.
* Possible use of illegal viral marketing campaigns.
* Possible use of software support being used as tool to promote sales illegally.
* Possible Antitrust Violations against the state, consumers, press and your competitors.
Do it and provide the proof. If you believe this is going on then stand up for us Nvidia customers as you are in providing modded drivers.
