Messages in this thread | | | From | Daniel Egger <> | Subject | non-i386 architectures (Re: Termination of the Philips Webcam Driver (pwc)) | Date | Fri, 27 Aug 2004 23:59:22 +0200 |
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On 27.08.2004, at 21:06, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> Whenever somebody says "accept the driver to help users", they are > missing > the big picture. A binary driver SCREWS OVER users on other > architectures. > It pretty much guarantees that those other architectures will never be > supported
Suddenly my hopes seem to have paid off after the rumor that you'd switch to ppc64. Indeed the nicest hardware in the world is one of those pieces which have the most troubles running Linux in its full shininess just because some of the components are "supported on Linux" only in form of some binary non-SMP x86 crap or not supported at all. While the latter is not a problem at all[1] the former will always bite people sometimes even *if* they are running the correct architecture. The only way to show protest is to not buy those products at all and let the manufacturer know in clear terms why they've just missed another $50-$50000 deal[2], if enough people are doing this, there's a slight chance that the company will reconsider their screw-up. If people continue using what's there because it "is better than nothing" then all others will be even more treated as idiots because "the drivers obviously work".
[1] Assuming the hardware in question is not a notebook and the component vital. [2] Depending very much on the price of the product and the quantity.
Servus, Daniel [unhandled content-type:application/pgp-signature] | |