Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:02:58 -0600 | From | "Scott Preece" <> | Subject | Re: Binary Drivers |
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On 12/21/06, Eric W. Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com> wrote: > "Scott Preece" <sepreece@gmail.com> writes: > > But as it happens that driver does not work for a large segment > percentage of linux users who potentially could place the card in > their system. Did that driver support all 23 architectures? ---
Do they claim it does? There is NO moral obligation that they support every piece of hardware in the world. They are offering a product under certain terms. You can choose to buy it or not. If you have standing, and believe that their driver infringes the Linux copyrights, then you could also sue, but the most you could hope to win is making the driver unavailable, which makes the hardware unavailable. That still feels like a Pyrrhic victory to me.
--- > The difference is that we don't expect the hardware manufactures to do > anything we only hope they will support linux. Once they support > linux we do expect they will play well with others and if they don't > then it is rude. --- Not everyone agrees that it is better to not have the device available for Linux at all than to have it with a closed driver. Again, note that the manufacturer services all other OS platforms with closed drivers, so you're asking them to do something different, that probably costs them something in startup cost, and potentially costs them something in downstream support.
--- > > Please none of this amoral Neither is wrong crap. ---
It's not a moral question. The hardware vendor says - "This is what we make. You can buy it if you like and we will support it to the extent defined in our support policy. If those terms don't work for you, or it doesn't work with your hardware, then we're sorry; we can't help you at this time."
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