-> This is not kernel related. But, I believe that it could become so if
-> this closed-standard IO technology becomes a standard. Frankly, I'm so
-> disturbed by it that I can't even discuss it. Someone please tell me this
-> is a joke or I'm reading it wrong.
The way I read it it's mostly a software solution so far, running on top of
PCI. If they keep it that way, even with new hardware Linux should be able to
keep supporting PC's. The only impact would be that we won't be able to use
their drivers, but hey, havn't Linux drivers always been _MUCH_ better than M$
drivers anyway?
I don't think it will be much of a problem. If they close the standard, like
IBM did with MCA, the standard will just die. I don't think all the clone
providers will want to pay for using a standard. PCI only became big when they
opened the standard.
The worst thing they could do is patent the thing, but a patent has to contain
something new. I havn't seen any really new ideas on their site, the messaging
part was already implemented in Minix. A patent that contains nothing new is
often not accepted, and even if it is it can probably be successfully fought.
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Hugo Van den Berg - hbe@cypres.nl
hugo.vandenberg@net.hcc.nl
Tel: +31-30-6025400 Fax: +31-30-6050799
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