JAAman wrote:
Intel graphics are used on about 90% of systems sold in the last 10 years (and even more have Intel alongside another card)
I'd be interested in seeing a citation for that statistic. Pretty much all motherboards include Intel graphics built into them (I believe the Intel CPU contains part of the graphics subsystem as well), but a lot of systems, particularly those aimed at the high-end/gaming markets, still have separate graphics cards. Systems that are sold with separate graphics cards would still have Intel graphics in them as you pretty much can't find a motherboard/CPU combination that
doesn't have Intel graphics (unless you use AMD, in which case you'll get integrated AMD graphics) but the graphics card takes precedence and chances are the Intel graphics are never used in such systems.
obiwac wrote:
Well then how do the major OSes (eg. Linux, Windows) make 3D acceleration drivers for nVidia graphics cards? I'm assuming that nVidia makes the drivers for them...
Yes, nVidia make the drivers (just like most other hardware manufacturers make the drivers for their products themselves). Because nVidia's drivers are proprietary, the success with which they can be used on Linux varies considerably, and most Linux users avoid nVidia graphics cards.