Native USB 3.0 Support Coming to Windows 8
by Andrew Cunningham on August 22, 2011 4:00 PM ESTWindows 8 will be bringing with it native support for USB 3.0 controllers, writes Microsoft's Dennis Flanagan, Director of Program Management for the Devices and Networking Group. This is in contrast to previous versions of Windows, which continue to require separate drivers for USB 3.0 controllers.
This news shouldn't be surprising - many mid and high-end laptops, desktops, and motherboards support USB 3.0 today, and both AMD and Intel are or will soon be integrating USB 3.0 support into their chipsets (AMD's A75 chipset, used with Socket F1 Llano CPUs, includes it already, and Intel's Ivy Bridge will include it next year). USB 3.0 storage devices in particular are becoming increasingly available and affordable, so it only makes sense that Microsoft would want to make support for USB 3.0 controllers as seamless as support for 1.1 and 2.0 controllers is now.
What's more interesting is how Microsoft is implementing USB 3.0 in Windows 8 - rather than adding the support on top of the current 1.1 and 2.0 software stack (which, as Flanagan notes, has its roots in Windows 95), Microsoft's engineers have chosen to write an entirely new software stack for USB 3.0, retaining the older stack for 1.1 and 2.0 devices separately.
For an in-depth look at some of Microsoft's thought processes and testing procedures, read the full post on the Building Windows 8 blog.
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B3an - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - link
And yet your Apple junk still dont even have ANY support at all for USB3 which is FAR more useful to most people than Thunderbolt and it's $50 ripoff cables.Then theres blu-ray support.
And look how long it took to add TRIM support.
Maybe one day Apple will add an actual up to date version of OpenGL that can come close to DX11 or even the Windows OpenGL version.
Really shouldn't be mocking Windows when using such an inferior and less capable OS.
Choppedliver - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - link
wow, your mac must be more bettArphatboye - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - link
I could have swore I read somewhere that native support for USB3.0 would come to Windows 7. So I'm guessing this statement means we won't see native support for USB3.0 in a Win7 service pack.damianrobertjones - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
Probably only in a service pack and then you'd have to change your install media to 'Windows 7 with service pack 3' to be able to install from a USB 3.0 socket.windows8win - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
http://www.windows8update.com/category/microsoft-w...windows8win - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
:)windows8win - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
http://www.windows8update.com/category/microsoft-w...windows8win - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
NiceAndrew.a.cunningham - Friday, January 20, 2012 - link
Hahaha, I came back to check this article as a reference for something else, and for some reason this spam account that posted the same link twice and then REPLIED TO ITSELF IN AN ENCOURAGING WAY just cracked me up.