Re: OSS vs ALSA war :-)

[GCZ <geeceezee@free.fr>]

Frank Barknecht wrote:

> IMO the right thing libre-wise to do in that case is not to buy
> hardware from vendors that don't support open source development.

Right. With over 90% of windows users, I think that's a tad useless for 
now. If you are coherent with your principle then:

- you don't own a single video DVD
- you shouldn't own a Playstation
- your choice among cellphones is very limited, if not inexistant
- you don't own a computer, because you didn't find any motherboard with 
an open source BIOS

> solvable. Nvidia however doesn't give a damn about open source, that's
> why I never would buy any of their products. (I could play Quake3 just
> fine with my Matrox card, if I wanted to, and I already have a closed
> source Playstation.) 

Right. I ordered Doom3 and will receive it in about two weeks. So I 
shouldn't use my nice GeForce FX with it either? Come on.
Nvidia stands out of the crowd because they took the ressources needed 
to provide the linux community full support for their products (ATI's 
drivers for linux just suck - hard). Not only am I glad about this, but 
I also think this should be encouraged. RMS is too extreme in his 
recommendations for my taste.

My take is this: if you want to promote Free Software, develop and 
promote Free Hardware in the first place. AFAIK, Nvidia is making a 
living in a competitive way, and I certainly don't blame them for 
keeping their IP secret. I would prefer open-source software, and even 
better, Free Software, but I certainly don't blame them.

> and should run the software (s)he wants to. It's just not very nice to
> come here, and tell everyone on the ALSA list that you are using
> OSS/Nonfree now.  That's what provoked me to my sarcastic "goodbye"
> comment.

I said that because I do care, actually. If I didn't, why would I bother 
telling the ALSA team that their driver/library/utilities don't work for 
me? Sometimes ranting is positive, especially if you're willing to give 
some of your time to help out.

This thread has gone a bit off topic, please fu2 poster if you want to 
continue this conversation.


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