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Re: [livid-dev] oms releaseB

* Mitch Allmond <gte203h@prism.gatech.edu> [20010202 01:54]:
> 
> Two, using linux is much more than having a operating system that is
> open. It's the feel and environment. Take a look at the nvidia drivers
> for instance. They are closed but they work and they work in linux.
> For someone that doesn't plan on hacking the drivers, it's no big deal
> since everything works and they still have the environment that they
> like.
> 

Some of us buy hardware based on the availability of and how well the
opensource drivers work.  It's part of the hardware *investment*.  I
want to be able to compile the driver 10 years from now and still have
it work.  What if nvidia decides not to support i386 anymore and just
compiles drivers for Alphas?  Or if they go out of business?  Or if you
want to use a different CPU?  Then where do you get your drivers from?
Same with DVD player.  I don't want to depend on someone else to tell me
what platform I can run a DVD player on.  If I wanted to run OMS on a
PowerPC when only i386 plugins were available it would be a hassle to
have to beg someone else to compile a DVD plugin for me...  source makes
that much easier.


> Once again, I'm all about opensource but sometimes you just have to
> give in for things to be done correctly. If OMS can play dvds
> correctly, handle the menus, etc.... that's great. However, you also
> got to take into account the timescale in which this will happen and
> the quality.
> 

Actually, no, we don't need to "give in".  Some of us are willing to
wait (and help code) rather than feeding a license fee monster.


> Also, if linux is to become mainstream, it will need such features
> like dvd even though it's loaded with legal/license issues. It's a
> fact of life.
> 

Our difference in attitude is interesting.  My driving force behind
working on OMS is so I can watch my DVDs.  I doubt I would work on it at
all if the whole point was to help Linux become mainstream.

-dave
-- 
David I. Lehn <dlehn@vt.edu>  | http://www.lehn.org/~dlehn/
Computer Engineering Graduate @ Virginia Tech in sunny Blacksburg, VA