lkml.org 
[lkml]   [1998]   [Oct]   [6]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
/
Date
From
SubjectRe: [OT] RE: UDI and Free Software
david parsons wrote:
>
> In article <linux.kernel.Pine.LNX.3.96.981005175402.18A-100000@z.ml.org>,
> Gregory Maxwell <linker@z.ml.org> wrote:
> >On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Bill Moshier wrote:
> >
> >> I fail to see it doing anything but strengthening the Linux architecture.
> >> If we have UDI support in the kernel, it does not necessarily require
> >> us to develop UDI modules, and it will potentially give Linux the
> >> access to the latest hardware available, assuming that the various
> >> vendors release UDI drivers for their hardware. If the various vendors
> >> find that they have a problem providing the detailed support for their
> >> board, it should encourage them to provide source code, or detailed
> >> information for their hardware. In either case, I believe Linux wins.
> >
> >No Linux loses. Linux is becoming a very popular driver. Soon many vendors
> >will notice a loss in sales if they provide no Linux drivers.
> >
> >UDI give them a way to throw a cheezy half-assed driver our way.
>
> Writing to a published interface does NOT make a driver cheezy.
> Instead it makes it easier to build a good driver, because you're
> not constantly futzing with the driver to account for interface
> drift, and you can instead spend this energy making the driver
> better.

Just because a UDI driver is written against the UDI specification
does not imply that it is either a "good" or "bad" driver. It only
means that it meets the UDI specification. There is nothing in the UDI
specification that says either explictly or implicitly that a UDI
driver will in fact work. Concerning interface drift, again there is
nothing in the UDI specifications that state that once version 1.0
is done (In February 1999) there will not be further revisions. I would
be surprised if there were not more revisions. The UDI specification
is not written in stone. The UDI specification probably will change
which will require that the UDI drivers themselves will have to be
changed. Concerning making the driver better you are assuming that
you have the source code which may or may not be the case.

Instead of debating the techincal merits of UDI we really need to look
at what the long term benefits of UDI are not just Linux but the entire
OpenSource/GNU GPL/Freeware movement.

You need to consider also that many of the same companies which are
backing
Project UDI are also backing I2O. It is hard to accept the open hand
of UDI while the other hand is resting on the binary-only sword of I2O.
Kevin Quick has made the case that the part of Hewlett-Packard
supporting
Project UDI is not the same part of Hewlett-Packard supporting I2O,
therefore
the two hands are not connected to the same body. I disagree with his
statement mainly because the parts of Hewlett-Packard ultimately have
the same head. The same is true of Intel and the other members of
Project UDI
and I2O. Hewlett-Packard, Intel, SCO, Sun, and others basically have
only one agenda which is to keep the stockholders happy. They keep the
stockholders happy by making money. They currently make money by using
closed-software and proprietary hardware. Therefore their basic
philosophy
would seem to be diametrically opposed to the philosophy of the
OpenSource/GNU GPL/Freeware movement.

There is an old proverb: Keep your friends close but keep your enemies
closer.

In the case of Intel & UDI it may be best to let them in at least for
awhile
under the premise that the OpenSource/GNU GPL/Freeware movement needs
to keep a watchful eye on them.

Remember Intel is still part of the dual monopoly of Microsoft-Intel.

>
> david parsons

--
Terry L. Ridder
Blue Danube Software (Blaue Donau Software)
"We do not write software, we compose it."

entertaining angels
by the light of my computer screen
24-7 you wait for me
entertaining angels
while the night becomes history
host of heaven, sing over me
==Entertaining Angels==Newsboys

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2005-03-22 13:44    [W:0.174 / U:0.092 seconds]
©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site