[Nottingham] Connect 3D Radeon 7000 AGP and Five Button Mouse info

[Robert Hart]

> Personally I dont see the problem with closed source for things like
> that. Its not locking you into anything, its not doing anything immoral.
> They arent charging you more for using their drivers.

The reasons for having open source drivers are exactly the same as any
other software, and arguably they are more important for drivers.

To take the specific example of graphics card:

1) the only thing that has ever crashed my linux box has been openGL apps.
Now admittedly this is happening less and less often as nvidia improve
their drivers, but I somehow expect that if it were open source this would
have happened quicker.

2) everybody bitches about X being an outdated graphics system. Personally
I don't think it's all that bad, but there are lots of people
experimenting with other ideas and trying to come up with something
better. Remember choice is good, right? But how can they do that if they
can't adapt the existing drivers to suit their needs?

3) Making binary-only kernel modules is only borderline acceptable, and
there are definitely moves by kernel developers to make it harder rather
than easier to do. This is their right - the kernel has always been GPL,
and the GPL is pretty clear about linking. This means anybody stuck with a
closed-source only card could get stuck between a rock and a hard
place. Want to choose between graphics and that bleeding edge kernel?

4) Even big companies like ATI and nVidia go bust. Then what happens to
your expensive graphics card? Sure if you're lucky they may GPL the driver
with their dying breath, but then again some competitor may buy them out,
mop up all the IP and cease support. If you had open-source drivers right
from the start then you wouldn't have to worry, because you know as long
as there are users, there will be support.

> Personally, operating systems and file formats, those are the two things
> I feel are evil to be closed, anything else by default, has to be on a
> level playing field and only the best product wins.
> 

Exactly, and a graphics driver is part of the operating system. Yes, and
several people would consider open source to win hands down for their own
definition of best.

Rob


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