Re: An Open Letter To The Linux Enthusiasts.

From: Ð¥ñØmü++ (mekamutt_at_blewfalcun.net)
Date: 06/13/05 

Date: 13 Jun 2005 20:21:36 GMT

Noah Roberts <nroberts@dontemailme.com> wrote in
<11ap5gaglbehvb5@corp.supernews.com>:

>Dyn0 Mu77 wrote:
>
>>> Linux distros have a much faster release cycle. So you have to
>>>worry less about drivers that are newer than the OS.
>>>
>>
>> Drivers that are kludged and reverse engineered.
>
>A large percentage of Linux drivers are developed by the manufacturers
>themselves and most of those make it into the kernel. Others are
>developed by Linux developers working for someone else or on their own
>time with reference material provided by the manufacturer, sometimes
>under NDA but other times not. The remainder are developed by very
>bright individuals who reverse engineer the device and write specs
>themselves. These later drivers are of course slower to get created and
>more prone to error since the manufacturer refuses to release
>information needed to develop the driver without reverse engineering.
>

Thanks for admitting that. Toshiba seems to be making a modest effort to
being linux compatible.
But the big players like Dell, Gateway, and HP...not so much.

>Not only that but fewer and fewer developers are showing interest in
>reverse engineering products just so the manufacturer can sell a few
>more to customers they don't care about

Since linux is the minority user, I dont think things will much improve.

> since more and more
>manufacturers DO care about their customers enough to provide drivers
>and/or specs to Linux developers. Fewer and fewer Linux users are
>willing to purchase products from manufacturers that don't care about
>them enough to make sure they can use the product they purchased in the
>OS they choose.

Smart people who want to buy new hardware will check the HCL for
linux-compliance.
But most people start on windoze. And thats who the manufacturers pander
to.
  
>Linux developers began making it a habbit to advertise
>which manufacturers "played nice" and which didn't and Linux users who
>needed such a product would primarily purchase from the former type of
>manufacturer. This *has* had an effect on the willingness of many
>manufacturers to develop and/or release specs for their products.
>Manufacturers are beginning to understand that their customers have the
>right to choose the OS they wish to use and if they want to be able to
>compete in such a marketplace they need to share the information
>necissary to use their products. There are a few, like digidesign who
>don't play nice with ANYBODY, that are very slow to realize this; they
>either will or they will go out of business...
>
You have to consider though: linux *users* are the minority. And as such
they have less monetary clout.
I see China beating the west with this combo: Linovo pc's which is what
they bought from IBM and since China uses mostly linux to begin
with...soon chinese computers running linux will appear in the US and
undercut the competiton on price & performance.

>The whole "kludged and reverse engineered" thing has not been true for
>quite some time now. You can easily design a computer to be 100% Linux
>compatible by purchasing from companies who care about their customers.

But as it stands *now* wintel is the money.
Linux users have less clout.

:)

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