No, Microsoft doesn't write drivers for non-Microsoft hardware nor is
it their responsibility. Windows is a platform, what you plug in or install
on it is that vendor's responsibility. Drivers aren't just simple pieces of
code and Vista fundamentally changes the structure or drivers. Vendors
may decide that writing code for older products isn't cost effective and
concentrate their efforts on newer products. There are an untold amounts
of programs and hardware that will never be Vista compliant. Microsoft
provided the APIs ( Application Programming Interface ) to vendors in
advance of Vista's release so they could do the work necessary to have
drivers ready. Unfortunately most didn't take advantage of that and you
have the situation you find yourself in.

Second only to "Reinstall", blaming another vendor is the most common
reason given to customers who have software issues. It's easy to get a
customer off the phone and hard for the customer to realize it's BS.

"husky86" <husky86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0B05ADBC-3F92-48A0-A871-615EA66A3B0F@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> If a particular driver for a particular piece of hardware is still not
> available for Windows Vista, who ultimately is responsible for the
> production
> and distribution of that driver? Is it Microsoft or is it the hardware
> manufacturer?
>
> I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate on a desktop system. Well over a year
> after Vista's release, I still have at least three outstanding and major
> driver issues. Each of the manufacturers, e.g. motherboard, network card,
> etc., tell me that Microsoft is responsible for producing/updating the
> drivers.
>
> Is this true?[/color]