On Mar 22, 2010, at 8:50 AM, Thiago Macieira wrote: > Em Segunda-feira 22. Março 2010, às 03.52.45, Robinson Tryon escreveu: >> All joking aside, I agree that there are vendors out there whose >> drivers are non-free, but I think that this is definitely a problem >> that can be side-stepped. When Nokia builds the successor to the n900, >> what if you give preference to components with FOSS drivers? >> >> If you approach a vendor and say "we'll use your _____ chip" in the >> n920 (or whatever it'll be named) as long as you can provide a FOSS >> driver for it," then I think you'll see vendors stepping up and >> freeing their driver code in order to win the contract. > > That's only an option as long as there's an option to choose from. > > Unlike the PC and laptop world, the ARM world is a very closed beast and > chips > are very integrated to one another, for performance and power issues. You > usually can't pick and choose: you buy a package from a manufacturer, which > may or may not include the hardware in question. > > Also note we're talking about not buying one item, but something in the order > of hundreds of thousands to tens of millions: you need a good price, a good > logistic service, etc. Open-sourceness is just one item in the checklist. > > So, it's not as simple as "opensource your driver or we won't use buy > 1,000,000 units from you". What if that's a bluff? > > Don't get me wrong: I'd love to see it open source too. But don't take the > naïve view of thinking this is just a matter of will. It's not.
I think you are spot on here Thiago. I do think that it points to another interesting factor, namely "operational efficiency." Jim Zemlin blogged about it recently. It points to the fact that if it is a level playing field, then companies compete on executing: bring devices to market, at a compelling price point, with few defects and good customer service. MeeGo can enable this kind of competition but only if what MeeGo delivers is not patent encumbered and open. Jeremiah _______________________________________________ MeeGo-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-dev
