From: Russell King <rmk@arm.linux.org.uk>
Message-Id: <200102171337.f1HDbwh13232@flint.arm.linux.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [LONG RANT] Re: Linux stifles innovation...
To: hps@tanstaafl.de
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 13:37:58 +0000 (GMT)
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
In-Reply-To: <96lrau$dcd$1@forge.intermeta.de> from "Henning P. Schmiedehausen" at Feb 17, 2001 12:37:50 PM
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org

*** Please drop me from the CC: and To: lists before replying to this.
*** I do read linux-kernel, so there is no need to send me two copies
*** of your replies.

Henning P. Schmiedehausen writes:
> But at least I would be happy if there would be a printing
> engine that is entirely open source and all the printer vendors can
> write a small, closed source stub that drives their printer over
> parallel port, ethernet or USB and give us all the features, that the
> Linux _USERS_ (and these are the people that count) want.

Speaking as a Linux _USER_, if this happens, can I get said print
engine working on my ARM machines with these closed source drivers?
Can Alpha users get this print system working?  Can Sparc uses
get it working?  What?  I can't?  They can't?  Well, its no good to
me nor them.  You've just made the system x86 specific.  Well done,
thats a step backwards, not forwards.

Oh please nice big corporation, can you please build said closed
source stub for ARM?  No?  Why?  You don't see the point?

Ah, golly, I'll just have to throw my ARM machines away because
we have some critical parts of the system which are closed source.

> But even if there is such an engine written for Gnome or KDE, some
> really ingenious "free software advocate" will slap a "must not be
> used with any kind of non-GPL driver" on it...

Good.  I build the stuff to work on my ARM machines.

> The whole Linux community is using closed-source/open-source all along
> for years: Netscape. Star Office.

They don't work on ARM though, do they?  Gee, I guess ARM Ltd ought to
stop my contract because what use is an ARM kernel without everything
else to go with it?

For me, closed source is _REALLY_ bad news.  _EXTREMELY_ bad news.
It 100% prevents me from doing stuff.

Its really good that the Linux community is so open.

--
Russell King (rmk@arm.linux.org.uk)                The developer of ARM Linux
             http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/personal/aboutme.html

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/