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Originally Posted by eschwartz
Those would be firmware updates.  |
I think we have different ideas of what constitutes firmware. Every definition that I've seen involves firmware being stored on the device itself, while device drivers are an OS level abstraction that allows the OS to interact with the device. While those device driver packages may incorporate firmware updates, that is not always the case. For example, the device drivers and firmware for my printer are separate downloads.
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You can always rely on the drivers MS ships, but gamers would prefer the performance improvements from keeping up-to-date via the vendor software.
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It depends upon the drivers themselves. Some of the drivers shipped by Microsoft are supplied by the vendor, and will reflect the functionality of the device. Other drivers are generic drivers developed by Microsoft themselves, and will provide basic functionality.
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As far as I am aware, driver firmware updates should not appear any different from any other updates.
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If you are using hardware that Microsoft distributes drivers for, yes. If you are using the vendor's drivers (and this seems to include drivers for some Microsoft peripherals), no.
And only the really important ones make it to Windows Update, there are scads of driver updates that languish on the manufacturer website.