Viel Trubel rund um die Omega-Treiber

Vor knapp einem Monat wurde publik, dass nVidia dem Entwickler der Omega-Treiber die weitere Veröffentlichung verboten hat und er sich ab sofort nur noch auf modifizierte Treiber für ATi-Karten konzentrieren solle. Nun gibt es gleich zwei freudige Nachrichten zu feiern, denn es hat sich einiges getan.

Die erste gute Nachricht ist, dass es wieder Omega-Treiber auch auf Basis der Detonator-Treiber geben wird. nVidia hat in diesem Streit eingelenkt und wird ab sofort diese modifizierten Treiber wieder als rechtmäßig ansehen. Als Folge daraus haben viele Webseiten wieder die letzten Omega-Treiber auf Basis des 44.03-Detonators zum Download bereitgestellt und auch in Zukunft wird es wohl wieder neue Treiber geben. Folgend das Statement von nVidia:

There has been alot of discussion recently regarding 'Omega drivers', much of which is based on conjecture or on personal opinion. Although we cannot discuss the situation in detail, we do want to provide some clarification to NVIDIA's position on 3rd party developed drivers. We do, as active members of the 3D community, understand the need and popularity of 3rd party drivers but we have been reluctantly forced into taking this action. However this action is limited to a single occurrence and does not represent a company policy as to future thrid party drivers.

After reports of instability stemming from the third party drivers, we requested the drivers be removed from the website distributing them. The fact that this was being reported to us at NVIDIA implied that the drivers were not clearly marked as non NVIDIA and non official drivers and users were understandably upset that we were not taking action with respect to these drivers.

Only the drivers which users had complained about were asked to be removed from the website and we also asked for our logo to be removed to ensure that end users were not confused as to the origin of the drivers and subsequently the risk involved with using them.

NVIDIA does not, in any way, condemn the development of third party drivers; quite the opposite. We recognize the importance of third party drivers and for this reason we have not asked for work on the specific driver to cease. Our action is intended solely to ensure that the origin of the driver is clearly stated and the end user is made fully aware of the risks they take installing them.

Die zweite gute Nachricht ist, dass es wieder neue Omega-Treiber für Grafikkarten aus dem Hause ATi gibt. Wie immer haben wir diese sowohl für Windows 9x/ME als auch für Windows 2000/XP in unserer Downloadsektion archiviert.