The drivers don't come with Ubuntu. They come with the Linux kernel. Make sure
you are blaming the right people. Kernel development is separate and all distros
rely on the same kernel source, the Linux foundation under the direction of
Linus Torvalds. Kernel development is ongoing and as developers and OEMs work
together more drivers are built in. You can often improve (and in rare instance
make worse) your situation by upgrading the kernel to a newer version. The
latest kernel 2.6.x.27 is in Intrepid Ibex and on many other recent distros such
as SimplyMEPIS 8 and Fedora 10.

You can check your kernel version with the terminal command: uname -r

Ubuntu 8.04 is running 2.6.x.21 or thereabouts. You can have multiple kernels
installed and from grub you can choose an older one if you choose. You can
install a newer kernel or build your own depending on your ability and interest.

The biggest problem with wifi and graphics is not Linux. It is with OEMs and
their slow adoption of the Linux platform. Those of us who have been around for
awhile have seen an exponential improvement lately, so just be patient and
drivers will come. Linux is not alone in this. Vista has a driver shortage as
well and M$ works closely with OEMs. In this case OEMs may be reluctant to
supply drivers for older equipment in Vista hoping to sell users new hardware.
There is no shortage of Vista drivers for the latest and greatest. With Linux it
is often the opposite. Better support for the older and less support for the
newer.

If you have your Windows driver CD you can use ndiswrapper. Make sure to install
three packages, ndiswrapper, the utils and the GUI, gtkndis. It isn't the ideal
situation, but it works.