[Gllug] Binary Only Modules are a cheap trick (was webcams

[Chris Bell]

On Thu 20 Feb, Mike Brodbelt wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 2003-02-20 at 10:16, George Saxby wrote:
> > Ah, but would you pay a slightly higher price to cover the research involved?
> 
> Actually, yes - I think so. If I could go into a shop, and get a piece
> of hardware of the shelf, and be guaranteed that there was a fully open
> source driver that supported that hardware (and ideally the shop would
> print some useful information - chipset, driver, kernel option etc),
> then I'd happily pay a reasonable markup. I have bought more expensive
> hardware in the past on the basis that the company was Linux friendly,

   In my experience it is difficult enough phoning around to find
manufacturers, exporters, and importers. I have been hearing the dealing
going on, with bulk prices varying by the minute for delivery within the
next day or so. It is quite easy to end up with a few container loads of
goods which are the latest version, for which the normal driver no longer
works. The distributors buy in quantity, and expect to be able to re-use the
space ASAP for the next load.
   I have been describing Linux to the owners, and there is a glimmer of
interest, so things may change in the future, after all many of the
manufacturers are in parts of the world which regularly use Linux, but many
items sell on past experience of what makes them the best profit. They have
enough problems when new kit comes in making the previous lot redundant.
(Any offers for 2 pallet loads of full tower AT cases, either singly or in
bulk?).

-- 
Chris Bell


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