I've been using ATI hardware since forever (the last nVidia card I had was a 32mb Geforce MX 2 around 2002) and my take on this is just a huge facepalm as to why it took so long for them to do this.
There was nothing stopping them from releasing Beta drivers on Day 1 for the hottest games except themselves. If their pursuit for WHQL signing at all costs was an internal policy for the satisfaction of bureaucracy, thus costing them negative PR with their technical savvy customers by keeping them waiting for headache-minimized gaming performance, then they have no one to blame but themselves and are reaping what they've sown if people switched to nVidia.
Only with BF3 did I actually see a concerted effort to make top performance availability to their customers a priority over rigid WHQL lockstepping, and imho that's long overdue for such a 'groundbreaking' concept. When you don't respect those of your customers who are smarter and paying more attention to you, you're asking for trouble and the resulting screams for change were there for those AMD staff with the ears to hear them. Even before the launch of Geforce.com, finding Beta nVidia drivers was never a problem as they were always front and center with the latest WHQL packages, whereas with AMD.com it was always a bit of a hunt.
Their policy change is without a doubt a good move, it's just about bloody time. :shadedshu
Dam,the colors just look so much better than all my Nvidias.