Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:28:48 +0100 (CET) From: Oliver Fromme <olli@lurza.secnetix.de> To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, volker@vwsoft.com, soralx@cydem.org Subject: Re: open source graphics card Message-ID: <200703191428.l2JESmUu036473@lurza.secnetix.de> In-Reply-To: <20070316171854.5395a8d7@freen0de>
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soralx@cydem.org wrote: > > > Another thing to keep in mind: In order to produce a > > competitive graphics card today (at a competitive price!), > > it must be at least on par with the "big ones", which > > requires DirectX 9 and HDCP support, among other things. > > DirectX, HDCP, and other garbage is not open source, thus ought to be > disregarded. If you disregard those technologies, you won't be able to sell the card at a competitive price, because only very few people would consider buying it. > > Did I already mention patents? > > Basically, you aren't getting hardware for free anyway, open "source" > or not (unless you own a PCB mill and a chip making plant). So, paying > due "respects" to the inventors who hold patents should be considered > part of the cost (unless the tax is ridiculously inflated). Right. Patents may be a PITA, but they are not mutual exclusive with open-source. You only run into problems when you need to use technology that needs to be licensed from a company that doesn't allow it to be open-sourced. Or when there are laws or regulations that forbid certain technology to be open- sourced (as is the case for some WLAN chips, so users cannot modify the frequency settings to violate FCC regulations). Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd With Perl you can manipulate text, interact with programs, talk over networks, drive Web pages, perform arbitrary precision arithmetic, and write programs that look like Snoopy swearing.home | help
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