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Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 08:02:36 -0500
From: "Ted Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
To: "Luis R. Rodriguez" <lrodriguez@atheros.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
        linux-wireless <linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org>,
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        Don Breslin <Don.Breslin@atheros.com>,
        Doug Dahlby <Doug.Dahlby@atheros.com>, Julia Lawall <julia@diku.dk>
Subject: Re: Challenges with doing hardware bring up with Linux first
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On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 08:46:11AM -0800, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote:
> > What this provides for is a wonderful leverage for hardware
> > vendors. ? If they provide GPL'ed code for their core hardware
> > drivers that link against the Linux 802.11 layer, at one fell
> > swoop they also get Windows 7 and Mac OS X drivers for free!
> 
> Yes, indeed ! That would be ideal indeed, but we'd need then an 802.11
> stack which is also permissive licensed and then make APIs for that
> 802.11 stack to match mac80211's or cfg80211's or bridges between
> then. Because ultimately you will still need some 802.11 stack for
> some OSes that don't have one.

I wonder how much this is true.  Yes, at the moment we still need to
worry about those OS's that don't have one; but how much longer will
hardware vendors need to support Windows XP?  If Linux, Windows 7, and
Mac OS X all have an 802.11 stack, what other OS's do the hardware
vendors need to support?

						- Ted
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