From alsa-user-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Thu Feb 11 22:47:35 1999
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To: alsa-user@alsa.jcu.cz
Subject: Re: Recommendation for ALSA compat non-CreativeLabs PCI sound card?
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From: Rob Browning <rlb@cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 11 Feb 1999 15:47:24 -0600
In-Reply-To: "Udo Giacomozzi"'s message of "Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:46:00 +0100"
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"Udo Giacomozzi" <udo_giacomozzi@rolmail.net> writes:

> Do you think this will help much?

Depends.  If everyone just caves and buys SBLive cards anyway, then
no, it won't help much, but if users refuse to buy cards with binary
only drivers, and make noise about it, and if (as is essentially
guaranteed by the GPL), their drivers aren't included in the kernel
*ever*, then you might start to generate enough pressure to make them
rethink their plans.  This would especially be true if a competitor
came out with full support for free software.

> So why Creative covers their cards by an NDA? What are their
> advantages?

Sometimes it's just an "ingrained corporate mentality" thing, but
other times they have semi-legitimate concerns about the driver source
revealing too much about their hardware to potential competitors.
It's another of those "not as good for them, but way better for the
customer" situations.  Although it's not all a loss for them.  If they
release the details, then they don't have to write or support the
drivers for Linux directly, and chances are good that they'll get much
better results with no financial expenditure (IMO).

> I think Creative should learn from OPTi. This manufacturer puts a detailed
> hardware description of their cards online on their web page!

This is good to know.  Are they a sound card manufacturer, and do you
have their web page handy?  I'd like to see if they have something we
could use.

-- 
Rob Browning <rlb@cs.utexas.edu> PGP=E80E0D04F521A094 532B97F5D64E3930

