Re: [SLUG] Video Card

From: Electric Monk (elctmonk@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jul 23 2001 - 11:06:49 EDT


> Nvidia drivers are not free -0- they won't release
> drivers as
> Open Source, they have lagged in releaseing support,
> and so
> have lagged. By supporting them in the market, by
> buying
> their hardware, you reward this 'closed source
> mentality'
> behaviour.

Nothing wrong with that. They make a good product,
which is more than I could say about some
closed-source venders (*ahem*MS).

>
> There is no technical reason NOT to open them -- the
> hardware
> is not directly replicable by other vendors.

The hardware is not an issue for them. What *is* an
issue is their OpenGL implementation, which is what
most of a 3D card drivers are. They aren't about to
give away one of their best advantages (excellent 3D
drivers) to all of their competitors, not to mention
the fact that they probably invested a large amount of
R&D money into it. Obviously, there are cases where
Open Source would make good business sense, such as
for manufacturers of things like ethernet cards who
really tend to see drivers as an afterthought (after
all, an ethernet card doesn't need a fancy
implementation of some protocol in its driver), the
nVidia drivers will probably remain closed for the
forseeable future.

--Kevin Fogleman

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