From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 19 14:29:17 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ECDE416A403 for ; Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:29:17 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (lurza.secnetix.de [83.120.8.8]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5FFB113C45A for ; Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:29:17 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (bapqbq@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id l2JESrJZ036474; Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:28:58 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.13.4/8.13.1/Submit) id l2JESmUu036473; Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:28:48 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from olli) Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:28:48 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <200703191428.l2JESmUu036473@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, volker@vwsoft.com, soralx@cydem.org In-Reply-To: <20070316171854.5395a8d7@freen0de> X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-chat User-Agent: tin/1.8.2-20060425 ("Shillay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/4.11-STABLE (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:28:59 +0100 (CET) Cc: Subject: Re: open source graphics card X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, volker@vwsoft.com, soralx@cydem.org List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:29:18 -0000 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.