> Peter is mostly correct about this. Microsoft is not involved in this > issue at all. If a vendor does not see a market for their product with a > given OS, they just are not going to spend the money needed to develop > that driver.
I am not into conspiracies even the public attacks against Linux by leading MS spokesmen make it clear how much they fear Linux. They have gone to great lengths to falsely bad-mouth Linux and their business partners can read between the lines. Microsoft is not involved in anti-competitive practices just as special interests are not involved in decisionmaking in Congress. Uh huh. Microsoft has a raft of anti-competitive practices charges pending against it in Europe and spent millions barely escaping well-due consequences here in the USA. > However, my understanding is that in some cases it is not the vendors > who write the drivers as the Linux developers sometimes have reverse > engineered them if they really want a particular device to work with > their OS. Probably true with other OS's. > 73, Rick, KV9U Many, if not most, of the commonly used drivers for thousands of pieces of hardware have been written by individuals in the Linux world because hardware manufacturers fail to provide them. There is no good business reason for their failure given the millions of Linux users. It is hardly a tiny market. Anyhow, what matters is the original issue -- cross- platform apps make the best sense. -- Thanks! & 73, doc, KD4E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Projects: http://ham-macguyver.bibleseven.com Personal: http://bibleseven.com Note: Both down temporarily due to server change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
