Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: Honest does not pay here... | From | Steven Barnhart <> | Date | 05 Jan 2003 20:05:52 -0500 |
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On Mon, 06 Jan 2003 13:01:41 +1300, Andrew McGregor wrote: > I've had some discussion with an ex-NVidia guy who was there while they > were doing the driver release. > > They wanted to dual GPL/BSD license the kernel part in the first place, > then they realised they had a problem. They don't own the copyright on all > that code themselves, nor do they have the right to redistribute specs for > all of the hardware without NDA, because it consists in part of purchased > 'IP blocks' (as hardware people call libraries). So in the end they've > opened up as far as they were allowed by preexisting constraints. > > Remember, the hardware was not constructed with an open source driver in > mind. It's fairly easy to build hardware which can have open source > drivers (you choose your IP block vendors carefully), but NVidia did not do > that in the first place, and now they are stuck. > > So your belief about hardware is just plain false, unfortunately. You're > free not to buy their hardware, but I don't think you are being fair to dis > them when they appear to have gotten the point of open source but been > stymied by other vendors. NVidia do try hard to give you the right to use > their stuff with Linux, but there is only so far they can go. > > I expect if Linux makes them enough money, they might buy the rights they > don't have, and release the driver in full. But don't expect that to > happen soon, because if you think proprietary software licenses can be > expensive, you haven't seen hardware. > > Andrew
Finally someone who explained this to everyone. Thanks Andrew you cleared this up to quite a few people. -- Steven sbarn03@softhome.net GnuPG Fingerprint: 9357 F403 B0A1 E18D 86D5 2230 BB92 6D64 D516 0A94
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