Driver-less Hardware

Drivers, those little pieces of software that know how to work your hardware, are a necessary part of computing today. Whether you're in Windows or Linux (not sure about OSX, but they're probably ahead of the game if I had to guess), you have to deal with drivers for your hardware. In the Windows world you can usually just pop in the disk that came with your hardware, but its not always that easy. And if you're in the Linux world you know all too well the challenges of finding drivers and making them work.

Well, what if there were no need for drivers? What if you could just plug in your new webcam to your Linux and it would just work? Not by chance if your computer had the right driver, but the webcam would tell your computer how it works and how to use it. And not only that, but if you plugged the same webcam into a Windows machine, it would work just the same.

Believe it or not, this is completely possible today, and is not too difficult. The concept, at its core would be centered around a common driver language. This language would be the building blocks from which a driver is made. And the code, or a byte-code compiled version of which, would be stored on the hardware device. A driver manager on the PC would then be able to download this information and offer it to user applications.

This is made possible by the fact that devices are becoming more sophisticated, and computers are getting faster. Both of which are required for this idea to work effectively.

DISCLAIMER: Don't try to patent this idea! This is my proof of prior art. It can be a much more effective technology as an open standard.