!! NVIDIA WORKS !!!

[Christopher A. Williams]

On Fri, 2010-10-15 at 13:33 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 11:59:35 -0600,
>   "Christopher A. Williams" <chriswfedora at cawllc.com> wrote:
> > 
> > The pragmatic reality is that we will all be dealing with a mix of
> > OpenSource and proprietary software for the foreseeable future, whether
> > we like it or not. Given that, it would help if all parties involved at
> > least tried to hold out the proverbial olive branch and get along. That
> > way, actual problems might get fixed without the various camps getting
> > into pissing contests about who actually broke what and who is
> > responsible, and true software choice is preserved for everyone...
> 
> Fedora isn't the distro to use if you have that expectation. There other
> distros that would be better if you need to use nVidia's drivers and can't
> afford to manage your updates to prevent kernel updates from causing problems.

...Ummm Not necessarily. Perhaps that works for you, but I find that my
current combo of Fedora and nVidia (via RPM Fusion), and a mix of
several other OpenSource and proprietary tools, works quite nicely,
thank you very much.

> If you use Fedora the expectations are that you use nouveau, that Fedora
> packagers aren't responsible for debugging packages that aren't in our repos,
> and that Fedora packagers shouldn't have to slow down development because some
> third party is dragging their feet.

....And no again. Those might be _your_ expectations, but they are not
_my_ expectations. And since I'm the one who gets to decide what
software I run on _my_ computer, your expectations don't apply. Oh, and
I've used and contributed to Fedora since version 1.0 (and, before that,
its Red Hat Linux predecessor since the "Halloween" release).

Besides, You implied some things about my motivations that I never wrote
or implied. Such as:

1) You implied, if not almost stated outright, that I have an
expectation Fedora should fix and debug nVidia packages. That's false. I
never even remotely went there. I have an expectation that Fedora will
fix their own bugs, nVidia will fix their own bugs, and the two parties
will kindly figure out how to work together under the circumstances that
exist like adults instead of tantrum throwing children.

Specifically, in the case of nVidia, that means I have an expectation
they will have to compensate somewhat in working with OpenSource
providers in helping to find and fix problems. That's the price they pay
for wanting to keep their stuff closed.

...In the meantime I'll continue to play around with and provide
feedback on Nouveau, and if it eventually suits my needs better than
nVidia, I'll switch.

2) You imply and try to make the case that running Fedora means I have
to buy fully into the ultimate in "OpenSource Only" ideology. That's
also false. No, I don't have to. I can run Fedora any way I want to, in
combination with any other software I want to, as long as I follow the
applicable licenses (in Fedora's case, the GPL).

I find it amazing that people who cry out loudest for OpenSource and
software choice somehow seem to be the same group to get upset when that
software choice includes a mix of FOSS and proprietary products. If you
take that position, aren't you becoming exactly what it is you are so
passionately standing up against?

I choose, instead, to promote, encourage, and advocate OpenSource
software, but will always promote software choice as a part of that. As
such I will also refuse to boycott proprietary software. OpenSource can
- and should - be allowed to compete and win on its business and
technological merits, as opposed to because someone crammed it down my
throat. If the 2nd is where we're going, we might as well be Microsoft.

Chris

-- 

====================================================
"The wise man questions the wisdom of others
because he questions his own, the foolish man,
because it is different from his own."

--Leo Stein, American Art Collector