ATI/AMD Catalyst 11.1 - Seems Good

Question

I just updated to the recently released ATI Catalyst 11.1 drivers for my VisionTek Radeon HD 4670 1 GB card, and they solved an OpenGL app crash problem I had just discovered in 10.12.  Note that this problem was not observed in Photoshop proper, but seen when running a plug-in configured to use OpenGL 1.1 software rendering.
I like it when ATI releases new versions of software for the card I bought from them years ago - especially when it solves bugs. 
I've tested the updated drivers with Photoshop some today, and with a lot of my other apps, and I don't see anything wrong with Catalyst 11.1 so far.  They run Windows Aero nicely on my dual monitors, everything seems nice and fast, and there are no errors being logged.
Catalyst Control Center has got a nice new user interface, in which it seems possible to find things more easily than with last year's model.
FYI, ATI/AMD numbers their Catalyst releases as year.month and makes about one release per month.
-Noel

Answer 1

In all seriousness, I do prefer things that work. 
For 5 years or so ATI was on top of the quality heap - long enough that I bought a 4670, 5670, and just recently a 7850 card.  However, the last 6 to 8 months have been markedly worse, and unless some kind of major turnaround happens, I am starting to think that ATI is moving down the list, making way for nVidia to dominate.  I have heard that AMD in general is having financial troubles.
In my long career in software engineering, having many PCs (and having run departments full of engineers with PCs), I have seen a number of different graphics manufacturers dominate the industry at various times...  Matrox, nVidia, ATI...  Maybe it's just nVidia's time to shine again.
Assuming you are speaking of "jumping ship" at a higher level to Apple, that thought has crossed my mind, but in all seriousness I don't think you lot have much better a time of it overall.  Reference recent Mac-only problems with Photoshop licensing/activation for example.  At the moment I enjoy the greater control the PC environment gives me over what I choose to integrate together. 
Perhaps it sounds as if "things are bad" for me, but they're not really.  For one thing, Catalyst 12.8 really does work pretty well.  My system goes for weeks between reboots and I rarely get application crashes.  Testing these drivers is something I need to do to keep abreast of problems my own software customers, who use my GPU-accelerated plug-ins, may encounter.  Fortunately with the newest Catalyst drivers I've found no problems with my own software, which uses the GPU differently than Photoshop (in these modern times, it's a certainty that no two applications use the GPU in quite the same way).
By the way, I am no fanatic - In addition to two desktop Dell workstations and one laptop Dell PC, I have in the family a Macbook, three iPads, and an AppleTV.  Like I said, I like things that work.
-Noel