Big trouble in big video -- NVIDIA's lack of final Vista drivers for its video cards is stirring up a lawsuit by users who say they've been mislead.
 Sprung: an NVIDIA video card with "Windows Vista Ready" labeling in-store |
GPU giant NVIDIA is facing a possible class action by irate users who claim they were mislead by "Vista ready" logos on NVIDIA graphic card packaging.
The threatened lawsuit stems from the fact that NVIDIA is yet to ship final Vista-compatible drivers, while its arch-rival ATI released final drivers on the same day Vista was released to consumers.
A website -- www.nvidiaclassaction.org -- has been set up to collect the grievances of NVIDIA GPU owners.
NVIDIA's latest beta Forceware drivers, version 100.59, work for some people but not others. The company has been struggling to get GeForce 8800 cards working properly under Vista, despite marketing them as having DirectX 10 compatibility.
An earlier version, 97.46, is listed as being WHQL certified and is not listed as a beta, however a bold disclaimer notes, "These NVIDA Windows Vista drivers are under development. This version is not fully optimised for full 3D performance and may not include all available features available on different operating systems. NVIDIA, along with the industry, is continuing to update its Windows Vista drivers to ensure maximum performance on 3D applications and add support for features."
The company goes on to say, "These drivers are provided "AS IS." NVIDIA MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOVER AS TO MERCHANTABILITY, COMPATIBILITY, PERFORMANCE, APPLICATION OR FUNCTION, AND DISCLAIMS ALL SUCH WARRANTIES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW."
In other words, "they may not work -- don't sue us."
The problem with that is that NVIDIA has been marketing many of its graphics cards as "Vista ready" for months, which, it could be argued, has influenced the buying decisions of thousands of people.
While NVIDIA may argue that "Vista ready" means something specific, consumer law generally uses the interpretation of the ordinary consumer to judge what an advertising claim actually 'means'.
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