Re: Honest does not pay here ...

Matthias Andree
2003-01-07T01:16:01Z

On Tue, 07 Jan 2003, Andrew Walrond wrote:

> Matthias Andree wrote:
> >You're at the author's mercy if you need to upgrade your kernel or if
> >the driver doesn't work for you. I'd rather know before buying a product
> >(modem, GFX board, ...) if there's either non-NDA'd documentation or
> >better an OpenSource driver or at least support for such.
>
> Fine for us developers, but 99.5% of users wouldn't recognise a c
> function if it jumped up and bit them on the ass. If it doesn't say
> "linux supported" on the box, they won't buy it. Google? Source Forge?
> ./configure? WTFIT?. Where is their freedom?

> Until the manufacturers start providing good quality supported drivers
> for their hardware, binary or source, linux will stay exactly where it
> is now; a server room tool and a hobbyists playground.

> I for one think thats a real shame

Only that you can't trust in the el-cheapo vendors claiming Linux
support, and an independent certification is needed (not only for Linux,
for the *BSDs as well). Without a trusted certification, some crooks may
try to claim Linux support and it won't quite work out.