Re: Open letter to Linux kernel developers (was Re: Binary Drivers)

[Giuseppe Bilotta]

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 23:34:53 +0200, Hannu Savolainen wrote:

> For a professional developer of any software the decision of open 
> sourcing it is not easy. "Just for fun" developers have no problems 
> because they don't expect to be able to live on their work anyway. 
> However a professional developer can release software under GPL only if 
> it's considered invaluable or if there is some way to guarantee 
> sufficient income. Releasing something under GPL without a guaranteed 
> backup plan is like jumping from an airplane without parasuit.

Except that we're talking about *hardware* companies here, not
*software* companies. *Hardware* companies make money by selling
*hardware*, not the software that drives it: in fact, they always
distribute the 'software' they write (the drivers) for free (gratis).

So while what you say is perfectly sensible for *software* developers,
it has absolutely nothing to do with the closed source drivers
*hardware* companies distribute.

This all being said, I think that the only thing that can shake
companies such as nVidia and ATI is a project such as the Open
Graphics Card
http://wiki.duskglow.com/tiki-index.php?page=Open-Graphics
to succeed.

-- 
Giuseppe "Oblomov" Bilotta

Hic manebimus optime

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