Here is an example of when the automatic update feature that is increasingly being enabled on software and drivers is a headache. Driver stability.
My "new" laptop (I bought it in May), has a built-in 1.3MP WebCam that utilizes the Logitech QuickCam firmware. That’s great because it’s recognized by the Logitech drivers and all the advanced functionality that their software brings. Now the bad thing about it is that the latest Logitech software seems to be less then perfect.
The camera picture will lock up and the camera will "turn off". This sometimes will be accompanied some time later (minutes to hours) with a complete, spectacular system crash, complete with blue screen (yes, it still exists) with dual outputs for both cores since it’s a Core Duo.
Pretty neat – hadn’t seen the dual-core dump, but I’d rather have the camera function like it should. This event simply underscores the necessity of stable drivers for any operating system, and that there are enough possible combinations of hardware that it will become nearly impossible for a hardware company to be able to completely test them all.
I’ll be checking into rolling back to older software to see if that solves the problem. It just shouldn’t happen in the first place though. One more reason I’ll be checking out a MacBook next.
