On Mon, 2004-11-29 at 00:15, Lee Revell wrote: > On Mon, 2004-11-29 at 01:45 +0100, Marek Peteraj wrote: > > > Of course I would be pretty annoyed if they just drop Linux completely, > > > for the same reasons as others in this thread - they have a relationship > > > with the community at this point. But I don't think they would be that > > > stupid. After all pissing off hundreds of potential customers is just > > > as bad an idea as giving valuable IP to the competition. > > > > Seems i can't convince you on this issue Lee :) > > It's _not_ _at_ _all_ as valuable as it might seem. > > Hey I don't necessarily disagree. I think open hardware would be great > and it looks like some might happen. I am just saying that RME designed > the hardware, so this is for them to determine. > > In theory you should be able to patent whatever innovations you make in > your hardware design, so you can release open drivers without being > ripped off. But IANAL and I have no idea whether it really works this > way. Apparently the main reason Nvidia and ATI cannot open their source > is because they are both knowingly infringing each others patents. How about using the same chip for different ranges of products, clocked at different speeds? :) I don't think one factory would produce 5 different chips really. Too costly. It's easy to throttle one chip using closed software. just my 2c. Marek
