ATI video comes out of the closet

[Konstantin Svist]

Les Mikesell wrote:
>> Given that Apple has absolute and total control over the source and
>> hardware, of course Macs don't have the hardware problems inherent in
>> the PC platforms.
>
> The issue is why an end user should encounter any such problem.  The 
> fact that you _can_ build a windows or linux box out of an 
> experimental, never-tried-before combination of parts and software 
> doesn't mean it is a good idea if you aren't a design engineer looking 
> for a new problem to solve.

Because there's such thing as consumer freedom. As a consumer, I'm free 
to buy a nice new widescreen flat panel monitor. I'm also free to plug 
it into my old (circa 2000) computer because I don't require any more 
processing power than that.
I did that 2 months ago - and guess what? Apparently, windows does not 
have a driver to support the old integrated videocard (some integrated 
ATI model, btw) in widescreen mode! Windows happily tells me that the 
card goes all the way up to 1600x1200 but can't do 1440x900. I install 
Fedora and it supports everything perfectly with its hacked driver!
Not convincing enough? How about my old HP laptop that came with winXP 
and HP's mockery of an ATI driver? The drivers by HP were always half a 
year behind ATI's - and ATI flat out refused to support laptop chipsets! 
I had to run some insane hacks to get vanilla ATI drivers to install 
JUST SO THAT I COULD USE AN EXTERNAL MONITOR!!!

It's been said before, but I'll say it again: the closed source model 
only works so long as you keep buying new hardware.