[Vimoutliner] OT: Wi-Fi & me [Was: Re: The easy way to add new VO file extensions]

[Matej Cepl]

Steve Litt scripst:
>> The latest Linux Productivity Magazine is set up as a Rapid Learning
>> resource: http://www.troubleshooters.cxm/lpm/200612/200612.htm

I like this essay by ESR
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/world-domination/world-domination-201.html
and I less and less fan of his, but in the moments when he actually sits
down and writes coherent article (and not makes stupid interviews to
magazines) he is usually worthy to read. There are two things to note from
this:

1) nobody asks hardware manufacturers to develop Linux Wi-Fi drivers (it
is the same situation as many years ago with Ethernet cards drivers -- Don
Becker, the author of most drivers for Ethernet drivers in Linux, is on
record that he doesn't want any HW manufacturer to mess with his drivers)
-- JUST CREATE API AND DOCUMENT IT!!!

2) Microsoft is riding straight into the same mess we are in, except much
worse -- switch from 32-bit to 64-bit for Linux is just recompilation and
fixing bugs (there is a lot of them -- I know it pretty well, because
there are so many people in Red Hat who are fixing them). Boring stuff but
easily doable in reasonable time.
   For Microsoft, on the other hand, it is pure hell -- apparently THEY
don't have source code for most drivers, so when people will ask
for support of some obsolete hardware with 64-bit Windows (and they
will -- after all when you are 90% monopolist, you should support 100%
of all hardware in production), they have to either persuade manufacturer
to create a new 64-bit driver for some piece of sh*t which is long out of
production (if the manufacturer is still in the bussines), or they have
to go the same way we did -- signal analysis and dissasembling binary code.
For hundreds of drivers at once! Good luck.

Just my .02¢

Matěj
-- 
http://www.ceplovi.cz/matej/blog/, Jabber: ceplma<at>jabber.cz
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