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Diffstat (limited to '2008/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/abstract.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 2008/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/abstract.txt | 24 |
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diff --git a/2008/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/abstract.txt b/2008/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/abstract.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae094c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/2008/foss-silicon_manufacturer-elce2008/abstract.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24 @@ +How chip makers should (not) support Free Software + +Silicon manufacturers, or rather design houses play a key aspect in how well +their products are supported in Free Software oparating systems such as Linux. +In the early Linux days - more than a decade ago - it was normal to have +completely public technical reference manuals for the silicon, enabling Linux +community developers to write drivers for the chips. +After chip design houses start to realize there is an economically significant +Linux market, they try to use their existing workflow, processes and +development model for proprietary operating systems and try to apply this to +Linux. The result are in many cases binary-only drivers for certain Kernel +versions and/or distributions or unmaintained, non-portable, coding style +incompliant open source drivers for outdated kernel versions. Those kind of +drivers are bound to create dissatisfaction within the Free Software developer +community, among the Free Software users. Furthermore, they also result in +inefficient use of R&D resources both inside and outside the chip vendor. + +Many silicon design houses still don't understand the Free Software and +particularly Linux development model at all. This results in suboptimal +support of their hardware products. In the end, customers are likely to buy +from a different vendor. + +So what can chip design houses do to ensure excellent support of their products +in the Free Software world? |