Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 14th May 2006 15:02 UTC, submitted by Matthew Oliver
"We have received an email claiming that the Kororaa Xgl Live CD is in violation of the GPL. I have been researching this as much as I can, asking many prominent people in the Linux world for their opinion. So far, no-one has agreed with the email, however a few have said to seek legal advice, which I cannot afford to do (but can't afford not to do, if I want to continue the Live CD). As such, the Live CD has been put on hold, until I can sort this out. If I cannot sort this out I will be forced to cease work on the Xgl Live CD."
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Member since:
2006-04-05
This is a continuing issue, unfortunately. Some people in the open source community view binary only drivers as a violations of the GPL v2; some do not. For what ever the reason, ATI and Nvidia have chosen not to help with open source drivers but instead supply very good closed source drivers (especially the Nvidia drivers). I my opinion you have to make compromises some times, and considering that without the closed source drivers from Nvidia and ATI most Linux desktop would not suitable performance or usability.
The spirit of the GPL has NOT been violated. Nvidia and ATI have not taken away any code from the open source community.
I find the fact that distros don't “ship” there product with the drivers but instead allow you do download them, just plain dumb. What's the point, it's just more work for the end user.