NVIDIA driver

[James Mansion]

> For further reference try 
> playing a recent sony audio cd under windows.
> Soon you will only be 
> able to play discs under windows exclusively...

What's wrong with that, precisely?  So long as
there is no passing-off as a red-box compliant
product, then I can't see that Sony do not have
the right to do that.

> people, stand in for your right, for your freedom!

When you say 'your freedom', you make it sound
like you have the freedom, and it is being taken
away.  I rather suspect that actually, for many
things, you never had the freedom that you may
think you did.

In the UK, drivers are up in arms about new speed
camera technology that WILL catch them when they
exceed speed limits.  They claim that this is
unfair and an impingement on their rights.

I know I speed.

But I also know that this will simply enforce the
laws of the land, and I just got lazy about assuming
that I'll get away with it.  I'm not about to lose
any freedom from the introduction of these cameras.
I'll just have to be more rigorous about obeying
the law.  I can, after all, exercise my democratic
right to try to get the law changed.

A lot of huffing and puffing about DRM is in the
same vein, so far as I can see.  Authors or
publishers of software get to determine the licence
terms that bestow rights on customers and users.

Sony have that right too.

Mr O'Hara-Smith says 'I expect to be able to use it
without unreasonable restrictions' but the definition
of 'unreasonable' is somewhat personal, and I think
really 'desire' rather than 'expect' is a more realistic
view of the way the world works.

Now, I personally don't see why nVidia and ATI et
al can't document how to do the firmware loading and
what the command interface into their software is,
without giving away too much, especially if there are
people offering to do it all for them on a volunteer
basis, and I'd have thought that they would find it
much easier to work with the BSD and Open Solaris
communities to make that happen.  It may just be
that its a mess and changes with minor hardware
variations and stabilising and documenting it would
be a PITA for them for minimal extra sales.

Loading WDM drivers for networking is already done,
why can't that be done for graphics drivers too?
If you could align with the way that Apple do things,
then that might work out too, I guess.  And if they
support Open Solaris, then that's a possible avenue
too.

If you're the little guy and you need an ABI, then
surely *any* ABI is a point of reference, even if
(to your taste) it sucks, or was simply Not Invented
Here.

If you have to change to line up with what nVidia
do, then that's tough.  They have big market presence,
and you don't, so get over it.