Kernel source -- CASE IN POINT (does anyone remember the original thread?)

[William A. Mahaffey III]

Bryan J. Smith wrote:

>Does _anyone_ remember what the _original_ point of this was?
>It was _not_ the GeForce, but the _nForce_.
>
>It was about nVidia's _nForce_chipset_ drivers, which are 100% GPL.
>You have forcedeth, nv_sata and other _GPL_ drivers like i810, 1394,
>ALSA, etc...
>nVidia puts people on those GPL driver development.
>nVidia is probably the most _pro-GPL_ vendor along with Intel
>(although I could make cases pro/con for each).
>
>The fact that this has gone mega-anal, because someone wanted to use
>the opportunity about the nForce to bitch about the GeForce, is why
>so many people are turned-off to Linux.  WE WERE NOT TALKING ABOUT
>THE GEFORCE, BUT THE NFORCE!  But that doesn't seem to stop people
>from starting a "Jihad" about nVidia -- often in _their_ collective
>ignorance.
>
>>From a vendor who has 100% released *ALL* of its technical
>specifications on the chipset.  ATI doesn't.  ViA doesn't.  nVidia
>_does_!
>
>The fact that so many Tawainese vendors create endless variants of
>MAC+PHY is _not_ nVidia's fault.  nVidia works with the kernel team
>to add that support to the GPL forcedeth.  Don't shoot them because
>they also offer the "nvnet" module for those that don't want to
>upgrade their kernel, as well as the older "nvsound" for those not
>running ALSA.
>
>In fact, anyone who knows about nVidia and their Xorg/XFree
>development knows nVidia puts people on the MIT-licensed 2D driver as
>well.  nVidia has _never_ horded 2D knowledge of their RAMDAC, scan
>converters, etc... but ATI has, Intel has, others have.
>
>Yes, their kernel-memory (3rd party IP, heavily Intel) and Xorg/XFree
>GLX implementation (3rd party IP, heavily Intel, Microsoft, SGI,
>etc...).  nVidia _tried_ to release the source back for XFree 3.3.x,
>and got letters from everyone -- from Intel to Microsoft to others. 
>But you don't have to use them for just 2D.  You can use the MIT
>drivers and no kernel-memory driver.
>
>Which is what most other video cards do anyway -- *0* 3D.
>And Intel's Linux driver is so far behind their Windows one.
>Largely because they won't open up their own IP.
>
>But, again, just WTF does this have to do with the _nForce_?!?!?!
>
>You can't even help someone these days without someone slamming a
>fsck'ing pole up your @$$ everytime you try to help them with nVidia.
> And 90% of the time it's because of their ignorance on the nForce!
>
>I love Red Hat, the FSF and the GPL, but I'm sorry, this *BIGOTRY*
>has to go!  I don't think Linus would approve either.  I know it's
>only a subset of Red Hat, the FSF, etc...  But I'm tired of getting
>slamed from just trying to help people (let alone educate them on
>forcedeth issues _not_ due to nVidia).
>
>
>  
>


Sorry for starting it all :-). I *knew* it was a bait question/statement 
about binary drivers/apps/whatever, shoulda left it alone ....


-- 
	William A. Mahaffey III

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