Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 30th Jan 2007 16:53 UTC, submitted by SEJeff
Linux "Yes, that's right, the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development. No longer do you have to suffer through all of the different examples in the Linux Device Driver Kit, or pick through the thousands of example drivers in the Linux kernel source tree trying to determine which one is the closest to what you need to do. All that is needed is some kind of specification that describes how your device works, or the email address of an engineer that is willing to answer questions every once in a while. A few sample devices might be good to have so that debugging doesn't have to be done by email, but if necessary, that can be done."
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Let's see if they get it
by B. Janssen on Tue 30th Jan 2007 18:01 UTC
B. Janssen
Member since:
2006-10-11

This is the interesting part:

From the Announcement: If your company is worried about NDA issues surrounding your device's specifications, we have arranged a program with OSDL/TLF's Tech Board to provide the legal framework where a company can interact with a member of the kernel community in order to properly assure that all needed NDA requirements are fulfilled.

Companies could have given out specs before, but often they didn't for legal reasons, this seems to be addressed now. Any manufacturer not jumping in on this is not interested in making money, simple as that.