Possibly offtopic : Binary only driver

[Sean]

On Sun, November 21, 2004 5:34 pm, Mike Hearn said:

> Still, I'm no stranger to working around bugs in popular programs - at
> the end of the day the purpose of an OS is to run the users programs and
> let them use their hardware. It's not to punish the user for buying
> stuff from vendors who write buggy software (which 3D card driver has
> never had bugs again?).
>

The purpose of Linux has always been to create an open source OS, indeed
that is its defining characteristic.   People who respect that understand
that there are tradeoffs to be made.  Anyone who isn't served by this
focus is better off on their proprietary, closed-source OS.   Why would
the kernel developers want to throw away what they've been working for
just to service people who don't share the same goals?   What is in it for
the kernel developers?   They're putting their weight behind a group
effort; those that don't want to cooperate, have many other OS's available
to them.   Why would the kernel developers waste any time trying to
attract those that don't believe in open source?  You haven't made a good
case that the kernel developers should change anything about the way they
handle these issues.

Sean