We would not have deal with this mess Linux had stable driver ABIs within the same major release (similar to FreeBSD's driver model). Windows has good support for new hardware on because IHVs can prepare drivers in advance get the quirks ironed out before launch. With Linux you have upstream your drivers early and pray major distributions will pick them up before their hardware goes on sale, to make things more complicated new distro releases and hardware enablement updates rarely align with hardware launches.
I know Linus and Co. will instantly reject any proposals for stable kABIs, you might be able to get away with not having one in server use cases (hardware architecture rarely change) but that has to be done if you want solid day-one support for new consumer devices similar to what Windows users have been enjoying for years, but I'm sure the sheeps on this forum will jump out and attack me for pointing this out.
I know Linus and Co. will instantly reject any proposals for stable kABIs, you might be able to get away with not having one in server use cases (hardware architecture rarely change) but that has to be done if you want solid day-one support for new consumer devices similar to what Windows users have been enjoying for years, but I'm sure the sheeps on this forum will jump out and attack me for pointing this out.
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