Has Ubuntu Replaced Windows on Your Box?

[Michael T. Richter]

On Sat, 2006-29-04 at 10:28 +0100, Daniel Carrera wrote:

> > The issue, you see, is "which distribution?"  The sheer bewildering 
> > variety of kernel, libc, gcc, etc. versions out there makes it basically 
> > impossible to make a driver that works with more than a handful of 
> > distros at a time.



> How about providing whatever information the kernel guys want to make an 
> open source driver that they'll maintain? You could even work with them 
> a bit to make the initial driver and then trust that they'll maintain it 
> as the kernel changes.



> I can see how drivers have a problem because Linus doesn't guarantee ABI 
> stability inside the kernel. But making an open source driver could, 
> potentially, be less work (or so they say) because they're willing to 
> maintain it.


I knew I should have replied publicly.  Silly me thought that an
increasingly off-topic chain needed to get broken.  :)

As I explained to Russ privately, the hardware in question had a lot of
trade secrets built in.  In the then highly-competitive world of
computer telephony (and it likely remains competitive -- I'm just not in
it anymore) even the slightest edge you may have over your competition
could be the difference between life and death for a small company.
Knowing how the firmware was loaded, which components were turned on or
off at which times for what purposes, etc. gave valuable clues as to the
functioning of some pretty top-notch DSP stuff under the covers.  Open
source drivers are simply not an option for what essentially amounts to
a tiny fringe market that further splinters itself with a bewildering
array of subtly different (and subtly incompatible) distros.

Were Linux as big as MS and others in the CT world, perhaps this company
would consider properly supporting Linux (by either making binaries for
every conceivable kernel or most popular distros or the like or even
opening the source to the drivers), but with Linux as fringe as it is
now there's no conceivable business case you could make that would
persuade them, I'd warrant.

--
Michael T. Richter
Email: ttmrichter at gmail.com, mtr1966 at hotpop.com
MSN: ttmrichter at hotmail.com, mtr1966 at hotmail.com; YIM:
michael_richter_1966; AIM: YanJiahua1966; ICQ: 241960658; Jabber:
mtr1966 at jabber.cn

"Thanks to the Court's decision, only clean Indians or colored people
other than Kaffirs, can now travel in the trams." --Mahatma Gandhi
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