LAU -- Correct me if I'm wrong here ... but ... lack of supported hardware is part of the reason people don't migrate to *nix operating systems; and another is the frightening complexity involved in doing anything with *nix which the OS and its software inherits from the relatively small, disorganized, underfunded community. add to this a dash of social ignorance and general complacency -- perhaps some nearsightedness too? -- and i think thats where we, the OpenSource community, stand with respect to the masses. It is difficult to say which of the above issues is the biggest hindrance to Open Source domination. However, hardware support is crucial; and thats a non-debatable fact. Concordantly, it seems to me that, if our goal is to spread cheer and free software throughout the land to our fellow men, we MUST INSIST on developing drivers for everything that has achieved either extreme popularity or extreme utility. By INSIST i mean the following [taking this RME situation for example]: a group of people [some ALSA-dev people, lets say] speaks to RME about developing the drivers, agreeing to sign not only an NDA but some other agreement which has the following [or similar] conditions: (1) RME controls the source however it wants [open or closed] and for as long as it wants. (2) the NDA team is not allowed the exclusive right to modify the source, RME can do so in-house if it chooses, but both groups must be notified of alterations and be allowed ample time to inspect the source to make sure said changes do not break everything before the new code is used to generate new binaries. (3) RME and the NDA team jointly distribute pre-compiled drivers to LAUs. [so on and so forth]. Everyone's happy -- RME discloses nothing and therefore risks nothing, *nix gets compatibility and therefore a potentially larger user base, which leads to potentially larger development teams, communities, which leads to ... [imagination required beyond this point]. Obviously this is not perfect, but i think we can all agree that a half-open- and half-closed-source model is better than the current situation with regard to RME and Linux. Thanks in advance for any comments; and special thanks in advance to anyone who gets the ball rolling toward the establishment of some relationship like this with RME or any other manufacturer: you will have my blessing and full cooperation. Best regards as always, --vord
