Closed-spec hardware vendors (was: Re: Gnash - GNU Flash Player / John Gilmore)

[Jeroen Dekkers]

At Wed, 4 Jan 2006 10:02:33 +1100,
Ben Finney wrote:
> 
> On 03-Jan-2006, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
> >    I wish there were some clear solution to this issue....
> > 
> > There is, simply not supporting companies that refuse to give
> > specifications to their hardware, and nagging them to release these
> > specs.
> 
> Which is not a solution unless everyone else does the same.

Before buying my new computer, I looked at the graphics card
available, but there wasn't a single PCIe card with full specs
available. So there isn't an option of "not supporting those
companies".

> As for Linux, that's certainly a sore spot. Many kernel developers are
> happy dealing with the devil. Fortunately, there are also many like
> Greg Kroah-Hartman:
> 
>     <URL:http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/stable_api_nonsense.html>
>     <URL:http://zgp.org/pipermail/linux-elitists/2005-October/011317.html>
>     <URL:http://www.kroah.com/log/2005/11/21/>

http://lwn.net/Articles/162686/ is also a good read.

Jeroen Dekkers