Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1161165AbXBOUWF (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:22:05 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1161166AbXBOUWF (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:22:05 -0500 Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([66.187.233.31]:44210 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1161165AbXBOUWC (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:22:02 -0500 Message-ID: <45D4C0E3.30600@redhat.com> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:21:55 -0500 From: Chris Snook User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.7 (X11/20061008) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: v j CC: Trent Waddington , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers References: <9b3a62ab0702142115m4ea7d2c0m6869eb64ef3ee14e@mail.gmail.com> <9b3a62ab0702142116n4069e16cl1bc8f546f41d935@mail.gmail.com> <3d57814d0702142147p4eede234ybc9880a38772f55f@mail.gmail.com> <9b3a62ab0702142214p5c33a02am7e783c59ae0a64f1@mail.gmail.com> <3d57814d0702142235i687f8481x4eb72269e7f7fa9b@mail.gmail.com> <9b3a62ab0702142246r7e4eac4bv26c2ed46ff588871@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <9b3a62ab0702142246r7e4eac4bv26c2ed46ff588871@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2172 Lines: 41 v j wrote: > You don't get it do you. Our source code is meaningless to the Open > Source community at large. It is only useful to our tiny set of > competitors that have nothing to do with Linux. The Embedded space is > very specific. We are only _using_ Linux. Just as we could have used > VxWorks or OSE. Using our source code would not benefit anybody but > our competitors. Sure we could make our drivers open-source. This is a > decision that is made FIRST when evaluating an OS. If we we were > required to make our drivers/HW open, we would just not have chosen > Linux. It is as simple as that. Collaborating with the competition ("coopetition") on a common technology platform reduces costs for anyone who chooses to get involved, giving them a collective competitive edge against anyone who doesn't. This is why there is so much industry interest in F/OSS, and mortal enemies in the business world happily work together on technical issues in Linux. If you choose to actively participate in the community, you will benefit from this phenomenon, as well as the patches you will receive from very smart kernel hackers who don't even own your hardware, and the pool of mature GPL code you can use to improve your drivers. If you do not choose to actively participate in the community, you can still keep using existing versions of the kernel that work fine for you, even if future versions do not. There are plenty of embedded devices out there using 2.4 or even 2.2 kernels that do what they need. Your competitors who do participate in the community (and there are a lot in the embedded space) enjoy reduced development costs, more stable and better-reviewed code, continuous compatibility with the latest versions, and influence in the community over the direction of future development. If you want to cede this advantage to your competitors, that's between you and your investors. -- Chris - 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/