On Wed, 2003-11-26 at 09:30, Nick Rout wrote: > no it is not an oxymoron. excellent linux support does not have to > equate to open source drivers. I agree OS is preferable. I am not sure > why the big 3 3d board manufacturers do not open their drivers. after > all you cannnot use the driver without buying the card. Perhaps the > details necessary to open the driver would give away too much about > their hardware details. If that is the case then they have a legitimate > concern. graphics chips are a very competitive market.
Long-term they'll lose out and here's why: Sooner or later the capability to build a video hardware is going to be within the reach of the average Linux genius. Hey, Open Source people, let's pool our resources and develop video that is Open Source from start to finish. No more video card upgrades, no more unsupported driver issues. If there's a probelm we can fix it by issuing a patch. But the incumbent manufacturers will laugh and not be concerned. That technology is way, way off in the future. The Taiwanese won't catch on and no way will such an entrenched market be ousted - like they just have been with cheap 802.11 designs we're suddenly seeing. I might have given them as much a 6 years to live until I heard that the next Sony video chip is being built as a field-programmable device. Even with silicon as the base construction material the old manufacturing ways are starting to fall. Once organic/silicon hybrid hits mainstream (which it will, 'cos it's cheaper in every way) software and hardware will be entwined in ways that we've not even dreamed of. The self-assembling organic transistor was invented last week, chaps. There is just so much coming together right now. I can't even begin to describe it in one e-mail. Performance is going up, development costs are tumbling down, independence in manufacturing is now a desirable asset. Stick it all together and see what you come up with. Vik :v) -- This PC runs Linux. If you find a virus apparently from me, it has forged the e-mail headers on someone else's machine. Please do not notify me when this occurs. Thanks.
