On Thu, Aug 08, 2002 at 12:39:47PM -0500, Igor Izyumin wrote: > [rant] > Not including the driver in the distribution would mean that users will have > to hunt them down, download, compile, and install them. These things are > very annoying to do, especially when your modem is not working. Mandrake > should really be more considerate to their users, and should at least try to > work out an acceptable license with the driver's authors. The driver should > DEFINITELY be included if the license permits it.
The only reason users don't have to do this for Windows is because hardware manufacturers make their hardware work with generic windows drivers, Microsoft writes a driver for their hardware (probably after signing confidentiality agreements that would preclude an open source driver), or the manufacturer actually ships their own driver with the hardware. Most of the time even if one of the previous two occurs they still ship a driver. Very few hardware manufacturers ship drivers for Linux with their hardware. Some of them make them available via their website. I guess my point here is that nobody whines when Windows doesn't include every driver under the sun. They just use the driver made available with the hardware. Yet so many people here complain because Mandrake doesn't ship xyz driver for their hardware. Well the hardware manufacturers know that their drivers won't be integrated if they don't make source available. They've made a business decision. They've decided that they don't care very much about Linux support or that the few people who use Linux won't mind going looking for their drivers. So the way I see it is if you don't like the driver situation complain the the hardware manufacturers. Ultimately they are the ones responsible for making the driver available. They are the ones who have decided to make the drivers available under terms that are not really compatible with the Linux communities expectations. -- Ben Reser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://ben.reser.org If your love has no hope of being welcomed do not voice it; for if it be silent it can endure, a guarded flame, within you. - The Wisdom of the Sands
