Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 20:26:38 -0600 From: seebs@plethora.net (Peter Seebach) To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs Linux, Solaris, and NT Message-ID: <200012200226.UAA07106@guild.plethora.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 19 Dec 2000 21:00:00 EST." <3A4012A0.44B4CEED@bellatlantic.net>
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In message <3A4012A0.44B4CEED@bellatlantic.net>, Sergey Babkin writes: >Dennis wrote: >> I didnt "praise" closed source. I said there is arguable reasoning behind >> preferring supported binary drivers that work over incomplete source >> drivers. Selecting an OS based solely on this criteria is just plain >> stupid. Drivers generally do not require changes unless they are buggy. And >And buggy they usually are. I would be very surprised to find *ANY* driver with absolutely *no* bugs. >> We have a saying in the US. "communism failed because its very essence >> breeds mediocrity". Your inabiltity to understand a business model that >> includes protecting corporate-funded assets, when MOST of the world's >> corporations adhere exclusively to such a model, shows how little you know >> about business in general. >The drivers are _not_ assets. Drivers to a third party piece of hardware are arguably assets. If, for instance, I built a system very much like FreeBSD, but in which all of the network drivers got 15% better performance, the world would beat a path to my door. When it's your *own* hardware, of course, the hardware itself is where the money is, and making the drivers maximally convenient is the best strategy. (Of course, this can, in turn, reveal "trade secrets", but if the interface to your hardware is a trade secret, well, geeze.) >When I buy a piece of hardware I very >reasonably expect that it would come with drivers or at least >the manual on how to write these. It's a part of the deal. Yup. >There are absolutely no reasons for the card manufacturers to >withhold this information, their hardware is their copyright protection >device and source of profit. Yup. It's much easier for me to copy drivers than it is for me to copy hardware. Of course, I'm better with an editor than with a soldering iron, and I don't have an 18-micron chip fab in my basement; some of you may find that it's the other way around. -s To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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