1 Dec
2004
1 Dec
'04
6:54 p.m.
Anyway I am not sure how much more can be said, the "should we allow
binary drivers" argument has been rehashed many times and it's something
we have to agree to disagree on. You are free to not buy it. If I
choose to buy an Nvidia card I know that I will have to use a binary
driver but that I can probably use a recent kernel and it will work. If
I choose to buy some other random hardware with a binary driver that
only runs on RH9 or something then that is also my choice.
This issue affects more than just drivers BTW. If you want to run
Oracle on linux you can't expect to just use any distro and expect the
binaries to work - your Oracle rep will tell you exactly which distro
and kernel version you need. Does that "limit your freedom"? Hell no,
you could have chosen not to run Oracle.
If there's no food available on the market that i need for various
reasons(health, say celiac desease ) then i can just choose to not eat
and die.
Same thing here, although a less serious situation.
I can just choose windows if there are no linux drivers. If i can't
afford a windows license i can just choose not to have a computer at
all.
Note - Oracle's core product is software. So i still can *kindof*
understand Oracle. NVIDIA, RME and others sell *hardware*. So whether
they provide support for an additional open source OS or not, they will
still make money. Of course they can expand to new emerging markets and
invest so that they secure their position in such markets. Or they don't
have to.
But is it ok if *I* want to *buy and use* their product and they *don't*
allow me to? Hell no!
BTW I've read numerous articles about nvidia and ati ripping each other
off. Cheating with benchmarks. Etc etc. If they provided oss dirvers, at
least they'd be honest with all that.
Same way you don't have to buy
a Fireface or an Nvidia card.
:)
Nvidia - binary
ATI - binary
XGI - binary
Matrox - binary
Marek