Nvidia, Intel, and clout

[Sean]

On Wed, November 24, 2004 11:16 am, Rodolfo J. Paiz said:

Rodolfo,

> You've quoted me out-of-context and incorrectly. My God, man, did you
> really read my post? And did you notice that I was specifically
> answering someone whose point was "let's go crush Nvidia and hurt their
> sales"?

I quoted you directly and correctly and I did read your post.

> My point was that people should not set out in a crusade to boycott
> Nvidia, since that is not the real goal. The goal is to get better
> support and more open-source drivers. To do that, we should support
> companies who *do* open-source the drivers, and we should demand and
> clamor for those products and those drivers. After all, if a company
> opens their driver and it doesn't help their sales, then they've gained
> nothing, have they? So buy stuff that supports open source.

My point was that I personally boycott Nvidia so I can see his point.  Of
course there's not much point in boycotting companies that don't produce
produts for linux because, ummm, they wouldn't notice.

> If, apart from working *positively* to get more support for the open-
> source cause, someone feels compelled to go out on a crusade to destroy
> a video-card maker, then I suggest that Nvidia is not the right target.
> *You* don't need top-of-the-line capabilities, but others do. Must they
> go back to Windows? Or do we want them to be able to use Linux? Because
> I am not aware of any other company who offers a $500 video card that
> has Linux drivers of any sort. Do you know of any?

Sure, there's a small minority who actually need top-of-the-line 3D cards
today.  I think a large percentage of people don't need top-of-the-line
capabilities.   They should be warned that buying closed-source drivers is
a risk that might end up with them having a card that no longer works
under Linux.   Any of these closed source providers might discontinue
providing binary drivers any day.   Then you have a $500 paper weight.

> At the top end of the market, I am not aware of *any* company which
> provides more Linux support than Nvidia. Corrections (factual!) welcome.
> However, I *am* aware of several companies that provide no Linux support
> whatsoever. So if you must crusade against someone, then start with the
> worst "offenders". I submit that Nvidia is not the worst offender and
> hence not an appropriate target for those so destructively-minded.

I don't really play games but I've tested both Radeon 9200 and Intel open
sourced drivers and they've been great at 3D.   I'm not out to destroy
Nvidia, nor am I out to promote them.   There are better options for the
vast majority of people, if that means less Linux business for Nvidia, so
be it.

Cheers,
Sean