On Mon, 06 Jan 2003 13:01:41 +1300, Andrew McGregor wrote:
> I've had some discussion with an ex-NVidia guy who was there while
they
> were doing the driver release.
>
> They wanted to dual GPL/BSD license the kernel part in the first
place,
> then they realised they had a problem. They don't own the copyright
on all
> that code themselves, nor do they have the right to redistribute specs
for
> all of the hardware without NDA, because it consists in part of
purchased
> 'IP blocks' (as hardware people call libraries). So in the end
they've
> opened up as far as they were allowed by preexisting constraints.
>
> Remember, the hardware was not constructed with an open source driver
in
> mind. It's fairly easy to build hardware which can have open source
> drivers (you choose your IP block vendors carefully), but NVidia did
not do
> that in the first place, and now they are stuck.
>
> So your belief about hardware is just plain false, unfortunately.
You're
> free not to buy their hardware, but I don't think you are being fair
to dis
> them when they appear to have gotten the point of open source but been
> stymied by other vendors. NVidia do try hard to give you the right to
use
> their stuff with Linux, but there is only so far they can go.
>
> I expect if Linux makes them enough money, they might buy the rights
they
> don't have, and release the driver in full. But don't expect that to
> happen soon, because if you think proprietary software licenses can be
> expensive, you haven't seen hardware.
>
> Andrew
Finally someone who explained this to everyone. Thanks Andrew you
cleared this up to quite a few people.
--
Steven
[email protected]
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