Linux Creator Linus Torvalds recently expressed frustration with change proposals to the Linux kernel that are only “required” due to faulty hardware. Phoronix notes that Torvalds ranted on the Linux kernel mailing list over the last week, saying that buggy hardware should not be Linux’s problem, suggesting kernel developers just say “no” and see what the “hardware people” say.
There are chipset design issues and there are firmware issues. The former is much more difficult to address quickly than the latter, sure.
Torvalds’s point, though, is that hardware developers (Intel specifically) keep making changes that “fix” imaginary problems while screwing over compatibility, and trying to shift the onus of making it work to the volunteers who contribute to open source instead of just paying their engineers to produce working firmware.
If the problem were only with defective silicon, I’d agree with you (to an extent), but this is not really an issue with the circuits.