Lucas Vogel wrote:

>> From: "Bob Cober" <cplusplus@home.com>
>> Subject: Re: 3D card Recommendations
> 
>> NVidia's drivers are closed source....  :-(
> 
> ....
> 
>> Nvidia's drivers are cool because one driver works with all
>> chips.  Only problem is theyre closed source....
> 
> 
> Pardon my ranting, but why is the fact that their drivers are closed source
> make it a 'problem' ??? I don't understand why that constitues a 'problem'.
> 
> Lucas
> 
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Good question Lucas.  The fact that the drivers are closed-source is a 
problem because of the possibility that Nvidia could decide to stop 
supporting them.

For example, if Nvidia stops updating the drivers, then there will be no 
more bug fixes and even more importantly no more support for future 
versions of OpenGL.

If the drivers were open source, then the source code would be availible 
for anyone to continue supporting them even if Nvidia stopped.(Well 
anyone who was qualified to develop graphics drivers).

Additionally, there are some people who will _*only*_ use free software 
for moral and ethical reasons. 

In my opinion, Nvidia has done an excellent job with their linux 
drivers, and I would recommend them to anyoneone.  But to me, the 
drivers would be even better if they were open-source...