[NTLUG:Discuss] CPU History

[David]

I admit up front I have a rather absolutist, puritan attitude about
this point.  If I can't do "X" in the GPL/Free Software world, then I'm
just not interested in doing "X" at all.

On Wed, Jan 22, 2003 at 09:40:12PM -0600, Steve Baker wrote:
> nVidia carefully explained their position on this on the OpenGL
> game developer's mailing list about two weeks ago.
> 
> Their view (as expressed in that email) is that the driver *IS* a
> large proportion of the product you buy when purchase one of their
> cards.  If they released the hardware specs then a competitor could
> develop a register-compatible card and do so for less because they
> wouldn't need to develop their own drivers.  Much of what makes their
> cards better than the opposition is in the quality and performance of
> their drivers.

That's a red herring.  If a competitor developed a register-compatible
card (no small feat, given the complexity of a modern GPU) they still
would not be able to ship the nVidia drivers with it.  nVidia's
drivers are their copyrighted property.  They are perfectly within
their rights to say "We only distribute drivers as part of a
hardware/software package."  

> I'm not sure I buy *that* argument - but I do truly believe they
> have good business reasons for not releasing their specs...otherwise
> they'd have done so already.  They aren't withholding this stuff out
> of malice - or because Microsoft are strong-arming them into not releasing
> them...if that were the case then they wouldn't be releasing binary
> drivers for Linux either.

Never attribute to malice - nVidia's or Microsoft's - that which is
adequately explained by ignorance.  

> It would be nice to have that choice - but realistically, that's not
> much of a choice...and for the NEXT generation of hardware with
> 'Shader' technology - you are doomed.  Not one 3D graphics company
> has offered to release the specs of hardware released later than
> January 2002.

But you miss the point.  You DO have the choice, and you make it,
every time you choose to open your wallet.  If one 3D vendor won't
release specs, buy a different vendor's card.  If all the 3D vendors
refuse, then you similarly may refuse to buy any of their cards.
They'll notice, sooner or later.

>   * Boycotting *all* 3D graphics cards isn't an option...not if
>     you actually want reasonably modern games - or other 3D apps.

Why isn't that an option?  OK, maybe you do without 3D.  Tough.  World
Domination may have certain sacrifices attached.  I have a large
collection of combat flight simulators, and top-of-the-line joysticks
and throttle systems, which I never use anymore.  They require
Windows, and I won't permit MS-ware on my systems.  When the gaming
companies come out with a Linux combat flight simulator, I'll open my
wallet.

>   * There is no way to pressure the vendors into releasing
>     the specs.

There is one and only one way.  Corporations pay lip service to
everything, absolutely everything, except their pursuit of your money.
The only power we hold, and will ever hold, over a corporation is the
power to spend or withhold our money.

>   * Reverse engineering something as complex as a 3D card seems
>     unlikely.
> 
> ...so - we're screwed.
> 
> I *really* wish there was an alternative - but binary OpenGL drivers
> are here to stay.

That logic applied equally well, at one point, to copy-protected PC
software.  "Everybody does it, and we wish there was an alternative,
but it's here to stay."  Except of course, it wasn't.  People refused
to buy programs with copy protection, and it went away.  Except for
games, where consumers were content to spend their money anyway.
Businesses, which got fed up with copy protection on Lotus 1-2-3,
stopped buying.  When was the last time you saw a copy-protected
spreadsheet program?

Stop wishing and do something about it.  Quit buying cards from
nVidia, or from every vendor, who won't tell you how to use the
product that you just paid for.  

Remember, choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.

-- 
David Hayes
david at hayes-family.org