So what? Sure, GPL'd drivers are easier for an end-user in that case. What does that have to do with law?
Well, under most interpretations of the GPL, you are *NOT* allowed to even _link_ non-GPL code with GPL code. (Basically, by distributing such a linked binary, you are certifying that you have permission to GPL the entire source-code and are doing so.
What about what's better for the company that made the device?
Who says that free maintenance and bugfixes *isn't* better for said company?
Should NVIDIA be forced to give up their secrets to all their competitors because some over zealous developers say so?
We don't care about their secrets, we just want to be able to interface with their hardware. Really, we don't care how the hardware does what it does internally, we just care how to tell it to do that. It's the difference between telling an artist to paint a big picture and watching every thought he makes while he does the painting with a brain scanner.
Should the end-users of the current drivers be forced to lose out on features such as sysfs and udev compatability?
Should the end-users even *have* features such as sysfs and udev? If the *open-source* developers hadn't *opened* their *source*, then that code wouldn't exist. One condition they made when they gave that code for free was that *only* people who also gave their code for free could use it.
I love Linux, and a I love that free software has become mildly successful, but the zealots are hurting both.
On the contrary, the zealots are what protect us from the even worse proprietary software zealots. You may not agree with them, but if there were only one kind of zealot then the world would be much worse off.
Cheers, Kyle Moffett
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCM/CS/IT/U d- s++: a18 C++++>$ UB/L/X/*++++(+)>$ P+++(++++)>$
L++++(+++) E W++(+) N+++(++) o? K? w--- O? M++ V? PS+() PE+(-) Y+
PGP+++ t+(+++) 5 X R? tv-(--) b++++(++) DI+ D+ G e->++++$ h!*()>++$ r !y?(-)
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
