OK, so I understand the end users need for WiFi drivers. This isn't a question about that per se. I understand the need for (A) driver for the OS.

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What I don't understand is why there are so many WiFi drivers for every single card or family? It doesn't make much sense to me, considering the somewhat uniform nature of their purpose and design.

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I would understand the need for a single new driver for each generation of WiFi, but it seems to me that it should basically just be {have packet -> send packet, receive packet -> have packet} (along with some other junk for detecting networks and security)... they don't seem to have other purposes than that. Its not like Graphics with new features coming out every day.

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As an example it seems that the HDD/SSD people figured this out - SATA just needs 1 driver, or maybe a couple if there are different SATA generations. Why hasn't the WiFi industry just agreed on one uniform standard for OSes to communicate to a given card?

I'm hoping its a legit technical purpose, and not just "were so special we need our own driver" or some esoteric vendor lock attempt.