On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 14:05 +0100, Bernd Paysan wrote:
On Tuesday 14 March 2006 07:03, Hans du Plooy wrote:
I'm not concerned as long as it works. People who just everything to be free and oss are hindering Linux's growth. My problem with the Broadcom is not so much the linux support - it works with ndiswrapper, but only as good as it does in Windows, which isn't fantastic at all.
I wonder how people can write sentences like this in a sequence, without realizing what they write ;-). The problem of closed source software isn't just that it is CSS, but that it's bad software, and you can't change it. Bad driver support is hindering Linux' growths, and bad CSS drivers are part of the bad driver support problem.
I know exactly what I wrote. Not all closed source software is bad. There are some excellent CSS available. I've used Linux since I was able to get my hands on it locally, and for the last six or so years I've used it almost exclusively, and on a large number and wide variety of systems. And in all that time, I came across only one situation where having access to the code would have helped me. And only because I have some experience in programming. Yes, bad drivers hinders linux' growth, and people who blindly insist on everything being free/oss is only making matters worse. Just look at all the comments about nVidia/ATI drivers. It's been discussed to death, and still people don't understand that both these companies keep those drivers closed because they themselves are in a position where they are licensing patents/IP from other companies. So OSS drivers for nVidia and ATI just isn't going to happen any time soon. Why don't we then provide them with meaningful feedback on our experiences with their drivers, thank them for their continued support, and encourage them to keep improving on their drivers. No, instead, we keep demanding that they open source their drivers. To put a different perspective on this. My HP multifunction printer/scanner is fully supported in linux. It prints, it scans. But the quality of the scans doesn't even begin to compare to the quality of the scans produced by the included software under windows. So I still boot into windows to do my scans. At this point I'd much rather use a closed source driver or application (whichever is the cause of the problem) and get good quality scans under linux than having to boot into windows to do my scans because insist on using OSS drivers, even if they're not up to scratch. Some people use Linux/FOSS software because they have moral/political/financial/whatever issues with propriatry/CSS software. Good for them. I use Linux because I like the flexibility and power the environment gives me. I've spent way more money buying Linux distributions than I've spent on propriatry software, windows, and all the hardware I've owned in my life combined. For me it's not about money. Or perceived freedom - the freedom to change the software as I see fit means nothing for me because I don't have the skill. I don't care if one or two of the drivers I use are not free/OSS - it doesn't make my user experience any less pleasant. As long as it works and doesn't restrict me in what I wish to do. Hans