[MPlayer-users] NVidia will be bannished

[Jan Sacharuk]

On Tue, Jan 29, 2002 at 03:34:57PM -0500, Alan Wilter Sousa da Silva wrote:

@>> Why would you blindly follow a dogma to the exclusion of all other
@>> things? Why wouldn't you use the absolute best system that you could?
@>> Do you feel that using something like FreeBSD is beneath you because
@>> it uses the BSD license instead of the GPL?
@>
@>	Hey, I'm not imposing exclusivity.  We try here to use the best
@>available we can and money counts a lot and access to source code too.

Well, that was a sort of testing question. I find that people that
really believe in the GPL find the BSD licence abhorrent. Since the
BSD licence is REALLY free (anyone can take your code and use it for
any purpose, without revealing the source...) it tends to grate on
people that fully push the GPL.

@>> @>	GNU/Linux main objective is fully described at www.gun.org, don't
@>> @>try to figure out.  If you are a GPL developer you have you own reasons,
@>> @>but, remember, you accept the GPL terms ...
@>>
@>> I may publish my software under the GPL, but nowhere in the license
@>> does it say that I have to believe the rhetoric.
@>
@>	Which could be your reasons to publish your software under the
@>GPL?  But I'd suggest you to believe in rhetoric.

Not at all. I want my rights as a programmer protected, and I'm not
charging for it. Frankly, these days, I'd be more likely to publish
under the BSD licence. That aside, I don't believe that software MUST
be free. I don't think that software is inherently free. I work for a
software company that makes its money by keeping its secrets close,
and actually requires people to pay for their product.

@>	Yes, I have to agree with you about the question "cheap software",
@>I'm not one of the "few people".  The same happens to GPL, who cares about
@>the GPL as long as it's possibly no charge?  But look, if we still have
@>two option: a GPL programme (usually no charge, but not necessarily) and a
@>cheap one.  Both do the job. Which one would you prefer?

Quite the opposite. You're one of very few people that puts ideology
over price. It's clear that you'd rather use a decent product written
by someone under the GPL than a very good product that is
closed. That's fine, but remember that you're in the
minority. Ideology almost never wins the day. I'm saying that Linux
will topple Microsoft monopoly by having a good, cheap product, not
because of the GPL.

@>> Well, this is fair enough. If you feel bad about using the card,
@>> don't. And I respect your right to have this opinion, for sure. But I
@>> still think your reasons are a little thin.
@>
@>	Hey, not bad about using the card! It's about using a proprietary
@>driver in a main GPL system.  Otherwise, I can use my nVidia card as a
@>simple svga card.

It amounts to the same thing in my mind. A lot of people don't buy ATi
because their drivers stink. If the card doesn't work because the
hardware is lousy, or if it doesn't work because the software is
lousy, it amounts to the same thing.

@>	That's the kernel's question. To use or not to use.  Look, I don't
@>buy any software that *promise* me to do the job and I try to avoid piracy,
@>so what's option left? GNU.  But there's no GPL similar?  Then we have to
@>buy it.  I bought Maple 5 to run in my Linux Box, what else should I do?
@>But I don't think the same about drivers, which are only supposed to make
@>the communication between hardware (am I right about the drivers
@>function?).

You're correct about the driver's function, yes. But software is
software. Whether it's a driver or math software or whatever, it's
just software. If you're willing to use a closed solution to do your
work, there's no reason to not use a closed solution for your video
card. And for once, linux users are actually getting what they paid
for! When you buy a card for Windows, they include the drivers. It's
part of the cost packaged into the product. Well, nvidia is finally
providing that part that we paid for! It's pretty nice, really. 

@>	Ok, point to you here too.  The same IBM and Compaq do.  Even SGI
@>played in the Linux field with their proprietary OpenGL cards and drivers.
@>But is it need to do the way that nVidia (and others) does?

Yes. You always need supporters. The people IN power have to be
willing to GIVE power. Think of it this way: women couldn't have
gotten the vote without men. What tipped the scales was that there
were a few smart men that decided to throw in with their wives and
sisters and daughters, and eventually things changed. It's not THAT
much different here. IBM and nvidia are trying to help us along, and
we should be grateful for their support - it makes things easier for
all of us.

JS

-- 
========================= jan at chloris.ca ========================
Jan Sacharuk Member in Good Standing of The Discordian Solidarity
Turn on viewing of the X-Geek-Code header to see my Geek Code
-----------------------------------------------------------------
		"You're skating on the edge."
		     "I *am* the edge."
			-Aeon Flux