[linux-audio-user] (OSS vs. RME) vs. (OSS + RME) [slightly OT]

Marek Peteraj marpet at naex.sk
Sat Dec 18 10:59:42 EST 2004


On Sat, 2004-12-18 at 01:49, Lee Revell wrote:
> On Fri, 2004-12-17 at 15:38 +0100, Marek Peteraj wrote:
> > Is there a difference between you getting paid by RME or any other
> > company for doing a closed or open source driver?
> 
> I would work on an open driver for free (well, someone would have to
> give me the hardware) because like many others I feel that working on
> open source software is its own reward. 

An open source driver isn't the same thing as open source software other
than both being open source. From the companies' perspective, an open
source driver is likely going to be the cause for a higher revenues
these days(although some people may think that the numbers would not be
that interesting still, assume it's ~100 for RME and ~20000 for newer
ATI cards, although i think it's a higher number). Still no investement
has been made into developing and supporting such drivers. Instead, the
oss devs are doing that kind of work basically for free(perhaps they get
one free unit), as a service for the companies. I think it's pretty much
unfair.

Marek





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