Re: OT: nVidia driver [was: Wish list] -- nVidia doesn't own a lot of the IP

[Alan Cox <alan redhat com>]

On Fri, Jun 10, 2005 at 09:33:01PM -0500, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> Oh don't even go there.  Anti-trust is just another word for "everyone
> ganging up on a competitor."  It typically solves *0* of the actual

Actually its a formally defined legal process to preserve free market behaviour
and prevent massive abuse of the citizenship, riots, war and the other
unpleasantries that follow when society isn't working.

How well it works is a different matter.


> too.  After all, HP and Red Hat donate massive amounts of IP and real
> GPL software to Linux -- in far excess of EU corporations, yet they are

The EU people I've talked to don't think thats the case interestingly. They
will point at SuSE, at KDE, (the fact Gnome is more European than US has
eluded them so far) and numerous other projects in the EU.

> Patents aren't bad.  Patents on _common_ideas_ are bad.  What we need to

So you want patents on books, movies, and other literary works (software is
a literary work remember...)

> I think nVidia and SGI has done a lot of good for OpenGL in the past.
> You should read up on their donations.

But nVidia and friends are how markets are supposed to work, or something like
it. Innovation, competition and price battles - and at times co-operation. No
different to any other market.

> Your points are noted.  However, I don't believe in the current trend of
> federated litigation and abolishment of all software patents.  Anything
> forced by a federated body smells like ... well, I don't want to say
> it.  ;->

Ah yes. Rights to justice, drinking water, not to be shot without a trial 
(except if you look foreign) ... 

Alan