On Sunday 16 November 2003 19:46, Micha Feigin wrote:
> Allowing binary only modules has its advantages ...
> ... This approach opens up the chance for more hardware support for
> linux...
This is very shortsighted point of view. If most of the Linux developers
would think so, we could have in a few years "yet another closed
source operating system named Linux" -- What a waste...
Somehow there are still people who think that Linux is just another
operating system (and Apache is just another web server etc.)
Think for a moment -- why has Linux advanced so much? What made
it so attractive to developers? How come Linux/Apache/Perl/Python/Jboss
etc. hit MS so hard where OS/2, Mac, Amiga, Novel etc, has
failed (with a lot more shoving power behind each of them).
The answer is simple, each developer *knows* that his work may not be
monopolized by others in the future. His work is protected (although in a
different sense than Ilan Finci was refering to :-)
If you are warried about hardware support for Linux -- than try to accept
only OSS drivers and wait for critical mass to force the vendors.
You think I'm living in dreams? Let me tell you a short Linux history:
In ~1994 there was a similar problem. Some vendors refused
to release specs for their SCSI controlers due to "IP issues,
blah, blah, blah". One of them was Adaptec which was one of the
market leaders.
In about 3-4 years, the ammount of Linux servers surged so much that
the SCSI (and SCSI-Raid) market was heating up. Some competitors had
OSS drivers (e.g: Future Domains), while Adapter had only "reveresed
engineered" OSS drivers.
Guess what? Soon enough, Adaptec (like any other SCSI vendor out there)
had OSS drivers for their full range of hardware (including Raid
controlers)
So now we have similar problems with graphic cards vendors.... But Linux
is already in the high-video arena (Holywood) and is entering the
Enterprise Desktop (that's why we have so many people asking about this
now). These companies probably think --
"We will take binary drivers and have the Linux advantage without
IP problems".
Yeh, sure.... SWIM AND DON'T GET WET:
- Linux is not such a system because its lead developer is a talented
Finish programmer (altough it helps :-)
It's because of the way it evolves. In this environment, closed source
programs are usefull only as interim, migratory solution.
--
Oron Peled Voice/Fax: +972-4-8228492
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.actcom.co.il/~oron
If it's there and you can see it, it's REAL
If it's there and you can't see it, it's TRANSPARENT
If it's not there and you can see it, it's VIRTUAL
If it's not there and you can't see it, it's GONE!
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