Moving a little bit forward, the second idea that came to them, regarding this subject, was to give out hardware compatibility certification.
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So Microsoft's idea was to try to put the blame on somebody else's shoulders, by saying that the drivers don't have WHQL digital signatures and, that was it, you couldn't blame Microsoft anymore, it was those damn drivers.
But you have to see both sides of the story in order for it to make sense to you a lot of people use Windows, and a lot of people complain about it, saying that they have a lot of problems with hardware devices, and incompatibilities, and the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) message you would get when something went terribly wrong. By doing this, other OSes, such as Linux-based ones were in a disadvantage due to what the software giant had to offer. This was one of Microsoft's first attempts of having the upper hand and delivering compatible software which would work on any type of hardware. We all know, or at least heard, of Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification for drivers, which is the same thing but it only applies to software compatibility with the OS.
But seeing the variety of Microsoft operating systems out there, certification is given for each and every type of OS. Getting certification from Microsoft for a hardware component ensures that it would function correctly while running a Windows-based operating system. As the age of Windows XP draws to a halt, more and more people are making the switch to the new operating system, and to top things over, hardware manufacturers are all up in a bunch trying to have as many Windows Vista-Ready products as possible.