I think this kinda misses a crucial point.
You cannot buy a non-nVidia *driver*. There is no competitor...
I guess the best realistic option (for the users) is if MandrakeSoft could
talk to nVidia about limited developer rights to the source code. Hell, you
guys are already recompiling the software - and I'm usually happy if there's
someone I trust out there with the source code. nVidia are a just a *little*
lapse with their development cycle, so they are not in the good books.
As for the go buy somewhere else if there's no source code... I've rollled
out Communigate Pro (www.stalker.com) at a couple of clients now, and I
don't see *anything* like it on the market. (SMTP, POP3, IMAP, LDAP, Mailing
Lists, Web Space, Non-system accounts, Web interface - admin and user,
virtual domain support, tight security options, and a very small footprint)
Sure they have a mail-bannered "free" downloadable version, but there is no
source. Touching on the statement above, I trust these people as the lead
programmer usually fixes problems within days - one fix I asked for was
implemented on a beta that came out 2 hours later.
I suppose all I would like is for someone to ask nVidia for a "developer"
license - I was always told "It doesn't hurt to ask".
(All usuall opinion disclaimers apply...)
Craig Foster
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Sunday, 7 May 2000 4:32 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [Cooker] Licence, issues, (Nvidia, binary, drivers) all
> very well but.....
>
>
> Some good replies. Your responses have reassured me a lot. I
> guess that I work
> for a "traditional" company, and all this talk of free software
> scares the hell
> out of them !
>
> I really, really hope it works out as well, my Linux box is loaded with
> downloaded software !
>
> Thanks,
> Owen
>
> On Sat, 06 May 2000, you wrote:
> > OS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >
> > > Call me clueless but surely it is all this talk of 'free
> software' and 'you may
> > > sell it but you must release the source code' that is putting
> many companies
> > > off Linux !!!
> >
> > I'm not sure..
> >
> > If you see companies such as IBM, Sun, Intel, they're getting more and
> > more involved in open-source development.
> >
> >
> > I think it's sure that "traditional" companies do care a lot about
> > patents, copyrights, etc, because once they get a good product,
> they want
> > to sell it to many customers, thus protecting their advantage from their
> > competitors.
> >
> >
> > With open-source, we're currently trying something different. Who knows
> > what companies such as Redhat, VA, Mandrake, will be within 5, 10 years?
> > We can't know..
> >
> > But some people are predicting it's gonna "work", i.e. the companies are
> > gonna live out of this sort of business.
> >
> >
> > And, moreover, it's a social issue: we do like that our work shall be
> > available to many persons, for a very low price; we also do like the
> > possibility to change a little feature we don't like in a
> program [cf. the
> > save-as bug in Netscape, still in last 4.73... :-(], the possibility to
> > verify if security issues/backdoors are included in the software we use,
> > and generally speaking this space for freedom that it opens.
> >
> >
> > We certainly would like this to work!
> >
> > We do hope so..
> >
> >
> > PS: sorry this is a bit off-topic but..
> >
> > --
> > Guillaume Cottenceau
>
>
