[clug] Free Ubuntu?

[Paul Wayper]

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Sam Couter wrote:
> Tony and Robyn Lewis <beakysnugger at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>> This doesn't make sense to me.  They make their money by selling 
>> hardware.  They could cut back on developers (for both Windows and 
>> Linux) by open sourcing their drivers.  Linux (and Windows) get better 
>> drivers.  Everybody wins.
> 
> Except that their hardware probably isn't very smart, just fast. The
> drivers are smart and is where they think their competitive advantage
> lies.
> 
> Or perhaps the hardware interface is very revealing about the internal
> implementation of the hardware. Obviously if that's the case and they
> release the driver source, competitors will be able to gain insight into
> the hardware implementation by studying the drivers.

Both are probably true.  The reimplementation of the Intel 3945 Pro Wireless
driver in *BSD (http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/ipw/ipw-freebsd.html,
http://kerneltrap.org/node/6650) makes interesting reading.  Basically,
Intel's 'driver' for this includes a binary-only daemon that is supposed to
control the card, but that reimplements a whole bunch of stuff that's actually
in the Kernel (code that Intel has contributed as part of the 802.11 spec).
It implements the FCC compliance, sure, but it also implements some of the
smarts to tune the radio and get the best signal and so forth.  This is useful
stuff for any WiFi card maker to know.

The argument about intellectual property is probably the main thing holding
the open-sourcing of a lot of these drivers.  Not because it's complicated -
they've struck more complex IP-sharing deals in the past - but because it
means paying lawyers a biggish chunk of money to strike out in a new, somewhat
alien, field.  There's no guaranteed return on this money, and most of these
companies balance the risks they take in the development field by not taking
any risks in the corporate field.

It's still a flawed argument - they spend plenty of money doing showy things
at E3 and so forth for little actual guaranteed return.  They could
open-source their entire drivers for less than it costs them to run one of
these demos, but who's going to convince them to do that?

Have fun,

Paul

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