Re: Honest does not pay here ...

Andrew Walrond
2003-01-06T23:59:19Z

Matthias Andree wrote:
> On Sun, 05 Jan 2003, David van Hoose wrote:
>
>
>>The impression I am getting from the GPL argument is that people want
>>100% opensource drivers. Well, to be frank, I'd rather have a driver
>>that isn't 100% opensource to no driver at all. I think most everyone on
>>this mailing list agrees. If not, I'd like to know why.
>
>
> 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