AMD nurtures open-source graphics

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An interesting story

As I began reading I was wondering how they would get around all the proprietary, licensed, copyrighted, and patented IP. About halfway down I seen they were simply going to with hold much of the information. I suppose the "half full" figure of speech is true, but will it satisfy open source coders? Can they and will they be able live with it? Obviously things like HD DVD playback is going to suffer under open source and I don't think many will care for that idea.

Ya know, most people on this forum think I am anti-open source, but the fact is I am not. I simply don't believe its competitive to proprietary. However, that's a discussion for another day. What occurs to me, here seemingly is a case where laws on IP and anti-competitive laws clash. In this case ATIs (AMD) hands are tied by IP laws, but I also believe there could be a case for anti-competitive abuse of the market.

Clearly the market is favorably invested in IP laws, but does that really out weigh user/owner rights to use their paid for hardware? Does it change the rights of those in the open source community to do so? When I became involved with PCs there really wasn't much out there in the way of "canned code" or applications. Pretty much everything came from user groups working on a project etc. (And BBSs ruled!) Over the years code has been commercialized and as one that has done it I can hardly argue against it and wouldn't anyhow, I'm a capitalist.

And yet, I also believe that open source and users should be able to use hardware that they paid hard earned dollars for. Not allowing that is simply wrong on a fundamental level concerning rights of ownership and it is also anti-competitive abuse of those wishing something other than monetary reward. I think everyone can agree there are many rewards having nothing to do with money, but are just as valuable if not more valuable as money to the person receiving them. Heck, millions of people around the world like to code just to learn how to do it. I believe there would be a very solid legal basis for an anti-competitive suit against hardware manufactures (certainly not just ATI) based on a single measure of "value" being used to define and control the market, developers, and ultimately end users.

If open source should fail, I for one do not want it to be because of something like this. It's right to compete in the market should be as protected as any other companies, organizations or persons rights.

Would that destroy all IP rights? Naw, AMD as well as other manufactures would find alternative methods to get the job done. Heck, with the help of open source they might be surprised at how quickly that could happen. The resulting product would obviously be of higher value (more platforms) and that should interest AMD. In any case, I want to see open source have its shot and compete with me (everyone) as a proprietary vendor. Nothing makes me better at what I do than competition and I think that is true of anyone, regardless of what you hold to be "valuable" as payment.

Posted by: No_Ax_to_Grind   Posted on: 09/06/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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