Re: [Hampshire] No more non-GPL Linux kernel modules?

On 15/12/06, Adam Trickett <adam.trickett@???> wrote:
> On Friday 15 December 2006 16:06, Jim Kissel wrote:
> > b) Their competitors could gain an understanding of the workings of the
> > hardware if they had access to the driver source code
>
> (b) is often repeated, but I hardly think there isn't anything in the ATI
> chipset that nVidia don't know about, and vica-versa. Seeing ATI code is
> hardly going to improve a nVidia graphics driver... I think this is something
> that the top suits may believe, but in practice it's probably a red-herring.

As I understand it, GPUs are simply processors with optimisations e.g.
for vector processing and most of the smart logic is in the drivers.

So, opening the source of the drivers could be a risky business for
either NVIDIA or ATI. They might very well give their competitors a
sneak preview of new technology, but more likely they'd open
themselves up to patent infringement claims.

G