A little more than a year ago, the biggest gaming news was – by far – the Kinect. This Xbox device was meant to go head-to-head with the Nintendo Wii in the hope of changing the hearts and minds of gamers around the world. Windows drivers for the Kinect weren’t available, but in a somewhat surprising move, Prime Sense – the company on whose reference designs the Kinect was built – provided open source device drivers for the Kinect. Microsoft also became involved in some behind-the-scenes open source driver development.

Will Microsoft Manage Kinect for the PC

Microsoft is now fully (and apparently transparently) behind the development of Windows drivers for the Kinect. The question is whether Microsoft is ahead of the Kinect-for-PC development? At the most recent CES, Microsoft left the impression that it will be giving away the Kinect drivers and relying on the sales of the Kinect device to generate revenue.

Of course there are a few rules to content with, one of the most notable being that open source drivers and the Xbox version of the Kinect can’t be used for commercial projects. Developers may also be limited to projects that run on Windows 7 and/or Windows 8. Noncommercial projects may only use the Windows software developer kit to write code for the company’s Kinect for Windows hardware.

Do all of these restrictions add up to too much Microsoft muddling in the Kinect soup? Initially, Microsoft wanted to limit Kinect development to the Xbox. With the release of open source drivers, Microsoft lost some of the control over development for the Kinect, though not necessarily development for the Xbox. Following the release of the Prime Sense drivers, Microsoft has reasserted its control over the development of PC applications for the Kinect following an open source model for the drivers.

It’s hard to know where Kinect for the PC development will be in a year, but it’s safe to say that the Kinect’s appeal extends beyond game applications. Developers expect to produce applications related to art, medicine, the military, automobiles, manufacturing and more. While some analysts think that Microsoft has repositioned itself ahead of the pack on Kinect PC development, I’m more skeptical.

Microsoft didn’t have a plan beyond the Xbox for the Kinect. Only begrudgingly did it extend the drivers to the PC, and only after this did the real potential for the hardware come into sharper focus for the company. Despite Microsoft’s efforts to control the direction of the Kinect for the PC, I think the open source development of applications and eventually the introduction of the next-generation of depth-sensing controller hardware will allow for the development of genuinely “open” applications. That doesn’t mean “open source” development, but rather development that can – but isn’t required to – develop according to Microsoft’s rules.
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In its 26-year evolution, Windows has come a long way. One area in which it may never excel, however, is with device drivers and automatic updates. The major problem, which is largely out of Microsoft’s control, is that device drivers generally aren’t made by Microsoft. Instead, device manufacturers write, update and distribute device drivers.

Updates Will Never Be Fully Automatic

Microsoft will distribute device drivers from manufacturers, provided that the device drivers are up to Microsoft’s driver standards and that the manufacturer makes the driver available for distribution. Not all device manufacturers choose to distribute drivers like this, so not all device drivers are distributed via Windows Update.

While some device drivers are part of the “automatic update” routine, others are left behind. By itself, this may leave some users with the mistaken impression that all device drivers they need, want or use will be delivered to their computer as updates become available. In reality, some device drivers are distributed automatically and others aren’t.

For those device drivers that are not automatically updated, the user must make the effort to go out to the manufacturer website, locate the correct driver, download it and install it. One key ingredient – letting a user know that a new driver is available – is missing. Unless the user is paying attention, or has an application installed to flag updated device drivers, the user could go for months or years not even realizing that a new device driver is available.

That’s precisely why I use Driver Detective to manage and maintain all of the device drivers on my personal computers. Driver Detective takes the work out of device driver maintenance by monitoring for driver updates. It also monitors the performance of my installed drivers and lets me know when a device driver is missing, corrupted or otherwise misbehaving.

Driver Detective stores a local copy of the device driver, so if replacement is required, the new installation can take place quickly, without having to go out to the manufacturer’s website and download a fresh copy. When a new driver is available, Driver Detective retrieves the new driver and installs it, retaining a backup copy of the old driver in the event I want to roll back to an older driver version.

Best of all, I don’t have to remember to check the hardware manufacturer’s websites for driver updates. Driver Detective does all of that for me and maintains a library of the drivers I need for my specific hardware configuration. Download your copy of Driver Detective today and see what you’ve been missing out on!

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Certain application updates generate big news, but for the most part, application updates – especially those that don’t involve a version number change – don’t generate a whole lot of press. That is, unless something goes horribly wrong with the new version. Windows drivers tend to fall into that category but that doesn’t mean they don’t have an impact on application performance.

OS Faux Pas Are Legendary

Most of the time, we hear about OS failures, spectacular or otherwise. A new version of the OS comes out and all heck can break loose. Applications, on the other hand rarely gain much attention, possibly because even the most popular applications aren’t as embedded in the marketplace as operating systems are.

When you download and install a new application or an application update, and you’re not entirely happy with the performance, before you blame the new software code or roll it back to an older version, be sure to check out your drivers and make sure that you’re running the latest versions.

That could include the latest versions of your sound and graphics drivers, which can be critical for a satisfying gaming experience. If you use your computer to do heavy-duty computing – like number-crunching or graphic design/engineering work, you’ll also want to be sure that your graphics drivers are in good working order.

For games or other applications that run simultaneously from the hard disk and a CD-ROM or DVD, you’ll also want to check the drivers for your media drive(s). If your old drivers can’t keep up, they can seriously impede the flow of data between the drive and the processor.

Don’t rely on Microsoft to dole out the driver updates you need. Not all manufacturers use the Microsoft distribution option, so you could find yourself operating under the mistaken assumption that your drivers are up-to-date when in fact, they’re not.

For me, I can think of few less appealing ways to spend my time than downloading driver updates. As a technician, I’m paid to maintain computers all the time, but when I’m on my own time, I try to maximize my return and minimize my efforts, all while keeping my PC completely updated.

That’s why I use Driver Detective to maintain my PC hardware drivers. Driver Detective downloads, installs and backs up copies of my current driver, ensuring that my drivers are always updated. I can also roll back a new driver to an older version if I’m not happy with the performance of the new installation.

Driver Detective has been downloaded and used by millions of users who swear by it. Download a copy today and see for yourself what a difference regular driver maintenance can make.

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I think the software manufacturers try hard to avoid creating additional problems when they release a Windows driver update, but unfortunately, sometimes that’s exactly what happens. Driver updates should be pleasant and painless, but for some reason, they’re not.

Updating Drivers Is A Necessary Step

Updating drivers isn’t always an automatic process. In fact, there are several holes in what appears to be an “automated” update regimen that may leave users without the most current version of a driver, or with a driver version that doesn’t work the way it should.

First, most drivers you use on your Windows computer come from someplace other than Microsoft. Some – but not all – manufacturers use the Windows update to distribute driver updates. There are – to say the least – several noticeable absences. (Think Dell.) If your driver updates aren’t delivered to your computer, and you have no reliable mechanism to find out about driver updates, you could find yourself several revisions behind.

This usually crops up after a Windows update has been applied and some of your drivers no longer work, or do things you’re not expecting. If you find yourself in this situation, the best thing to do is verify – by going back to the manufacturer’s support site, if necessary – that you have the most current version of the hardware driver that supports your errant device.

Of course, going straight to the source will help ensure that you get the driver you’re looking for, but many users don’t know exactly what system they have or what driver they need. Download and install the right driver and everything is fine. Download and install the wrong driver, and well – let’s just say that things could get interesting.

If you’ve picked up a driver update from Windows Update and your hardware devices stop working as advertised, Windows may have delivered the wrong update to your computer. As I said, I think the manufacturers (and Microsoft) try hard to make sure this doesn’t happen, but occasionally it does happen. Again, the solution is to go back to the driver source and select, download and install the correct driver.

I’ve said it before. I’m not really a fan of doing dull maintenance work on my computer, and downloading drivers falls into the “dull maintenance work” category. I use a driver maintenance program called Driver Detective to manage all of the Windows drivers on my computer.

Driver Detective takes the guesswork out of driver maintenance and also helps to ensure that I get the most recent driver updates as soon as they become available. Check out Driver Detective for your driver maintenance needs.

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