Martin Langhoff wrote: > On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 6:26 PM, Mitch Bradley <w...@laptop.org> wrote: > >>> that's the great thing about linux -- just when we finally >>> develop a standard way of doing things, someone steps in and >>> says, "no, that was wrong, let's do it this way instead", and >>> stops supporting or improving the old way. >>> >> ... and then people wonder why so many hardware companies don't want to >> support Linux with drivers. >> > > That's not entirely fair. If you submit the driver for inclusion in > the kernel tree, then the dev who pushes for the API change is on the > hook to update all the drivers to the new API. > Believe me, I'm well acquainted with that argument. But submitting the driver to the kernel tree requires a fundamental change in mindset for most companies in the competitive commercial landscape. They have trouble with the fact that there are other companies lurking around the corner wanting to take away their business by cloning their designs.
Furthermore, the explicit disclaimer of warranty that underlies much of the FOSS legal underpinnings is counter to the fundamental business realities in the commercial world. Pushing a driver upstream and saying "upstream will then take care of it for me" doesn't "solve the problem" when you consider that companies have customers that expect a complete solution and are always working on new hardware versions. If they are going to "support Linux" for real, it's necessary to port the driver to the new version, or wait for upstream to port it. The former is problematic if the upstream churn has invalidated knowledge that your driver expert used to have, the later is problematic from the standpoint of managing your internal schedules and keeping your plans secret from your competitors. It's nice to say they should "see the light", but in my experience talking to many such companies, the fact of the matter is that it is a hard nut for them to swallow. I see their point. I have been doing Unix kernel work off and on since 1979. I used to enjoy it; now I dread it. Unless I do nothing else, my knowledge of the necessary details becomes obsolete so fast that every project makes me feel like a n00b. _______________________________________________ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
