Was it intentional to not include FTDI drivers in the Arduino IDE 1.0.6

[jonfen]

Having to install them manually is a pain:

https://www.opensprints.com/howto_install_arduino_ftdi_drivers.php

[matthijskooijman]

AFAIU, Windows should include the actual FTDI drivers by default. The Arduino IDE should include just a .inf file that tells Windows to use the FTDI drivers for the Arduino boards. However, this .inf file only knows about the USB identifiers of the official Arduino boards - perhaps you are using third-party boards with different identifiers?

[Chris--A]

In windows 8.1 I had to install these drivers manually. 8.1 is missing quite a bit it seems.

I used this page: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ftdi-drivers/windows---quick-and-easy

The links could be placed somewhere useful, or the file included in the drivers package.