Re: [PATCH] Blacklist binary-only modules lying about their license

Keith D Burgess Jr
2004-04-28T19:57:24Z

Marc -

Wanted to take a moment to thank you for the incredible job you and
Linuxant have done supporting the Linux community. I have been
following the threads on the lkml and must say that I am appalled at
the way you are being <personally> treated. If it were not for
Linuxant, owners of the "linux unfriendly" chipsets would be SOL. I for
one was pis**d when I found out my 2100b wireless card in my brand
spanking new X31 was not supported; until of course, I stumbled upon
driverloader. While there are other "free" alternatives out there and
also the ipw2100 project, I for one do not want to go through the
effort of compiling, modifying kernel parameters etc. For me, the $20
spent on driverloader was well worth it and allowed me to scrap XP for
Linux. And how about support? I surely appreciated the personal
support, and hours, you spent on my laptop hanging issue. Would I
recieve that from the other project's community members?

With that said, I must admit that I was one of those confused users
when I first saw the tainted kernel message(s). I have used Linux (I
repeat, <<used>> Linux) since about 96 or so. I don't claim to be an
expert or a developer but by no means am a Linux newbie. Just because I
am more interested in applications, window managers and graphical
environments such as gnome and kde, then meaningless (to the user)
kernel messages, does not make me a stupid user. However, not fully
understanding the kernel message, I thought something was wrong the
first time I noticed it (VMware modules as I recall.)

The Kernel developers should be focused on bringing Linux to the
attention of EVERY desktop user, not just those who are knowledgeable
of kernel messages, configuration, APIs and the GPL. Why do you think
that distributions such as Xandros have become so popular to users
switching to Linux? It seems rather simple to me; the product just
plain works! Is the diamond of their OS, the file manager, released
under the GPL? Of course not, and the users do not care! They just want
to be able to integrate into existing Windows environments,
authenticate against their NT/AD domains and be able to map to existing
Windows network resources - all seamlessly.

In summary, I firmly feel that there needs to be a mindset change if
Linux is to eat away at Windows market share on the desktops. Let's
take a certain Linux distributor as an example; here is a quote from a
recent posting on the 4K stacks issue:

"Too bad. External binary modules never have, and never will hold back
development. NVIDIA need to issue driver updates that work accordingly."

Reworded from a user-focused perspective:

"External binary modules shouldn't hold back development. Although
NVIDIA needs to issue driver updates that work accordingly, <>
understands that our users are the number one priority. Therefore,
until new modules are released, we will offer a workaround for users
who are effected."

Sincerely,
Keith

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