29 Nov
2004
29 Nov
'04
4:27 p.m.
Marek Peteraj wrote:
On Mon, 2004-11-29 at 16:59, Jack O'Quin wrote:
I have a question. Since they already have a Mac OSX driver for the
Firewire 800, why can't they just port it to Linux? It shouldn't be that
hard. Am I wrong about this? Of course it would be closed source but at
least people would have the option of using that interface on Linux. If
I'm right about it not being that hard to port the driver, wouldn't that
indicate that there is another reason for not providing Linux support
for that interface?
Rick B
Joe Hartley <jh(a)brainiac.com> writes:
Jack, i think it rather violates the freedom of their *customers* to use
the product they've purchased with the OS of their choice.
I think if RME believes releasing the data on
their Firewire audio
poses a threat to their competitive edge, they probably have a point.
Right or wrong, it is their business and their choice.
While I'm a huge fan of OSS, I have to respect
when companies like
NVidia release binary-only drivers for a device. I'm just glad that
they do, when so many companies will only release for Windoze, or for
Windoze and Mac only. I think NVidia's support, for example, is as good
for Linux as it is for any other platform. Do all bugs get fixed?
Nope, and they don't in 99% of OSS projects, either.
I believe in free speech, and this includes the right to remain
silent. Insisting that RME release code when they would rather not
violates *their* freedom.
I value libre software for being minimally
coercive to both authors and users.
Basically i think that people here are just *too* polite to stand up and
thrash the companies for being careless. Because it's how it is.
Marek