Re: Which Kernel for Airport Support?
On Tue, 2005-01-03 at 18:50 -0800, Eric Gaumer wrote:
> Mauro wrote:
> >
> >
> >>>For me it's no problem.
> >>>But i don't know if Apple/Broadcom have to be asked?
> >>>
> >>>It would be great to have a replacement for the Broadcom card.
> >>
> >>Has anyone actually tried to contact Broadcom?
> >
> >
> >
> > I have and I can tell you that I understood that they felt they had no
> > responsibility towards people who owned their hardware. How did i get
> > this? Well, they told me that they do not deal with the public and that
> > if I wanted linux specs (the reason for my email) or drivers I would
> > have to ask apple. I don't think they answered me back when I brought
> > attention to how inconsistent it was to think that apple was going to
> > release gnu-linux airport extreme specs and or drivers, considering that
> > gnu-linux ppc competes on their hardware. I have copies of my
> > correspondence with them. And no, I do not think it is unreasonable to
> > post contacts online. It's time they fess up to their social
> > responsibilities of supporting their hardware by not locking their
> > customers into specific architectures. I have personally thought of
> > starting a boycott but school and a lack on info on how to organise this
> > have kept me at bay. Perhaps I should start with my local gnu-linux
> > group.
> >
> >
>
> Now now... Don't fulfill the stereotype that people have of Linux users. I understand the
> frustration but we need to approach things in a civil manner if we expect to be taken
> seriously. Nobody said it would be easy but just as the ocean wears at the shore, we will
> eventually overcome. Rash behavior will only prolong our suffering...
>
> Boycotting the product has a negative effect. Do you think Linux PPC users produce a large
> market share? We should instead embrace the product because once we do become a significant
> portion, we will have more say.
>
> Think about it...
>
> --
> "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
> - Albert Einstein
I appreciate your logic but there is another logical tactic and that is
as linux user we are in a position of influence. Some of us take care
of hardware, servers, are techs, etc as a profession. Others like me
are simply regular people with an obsessive interest in multi-user,
"permissions enabled" OSs. Others are interested in the philosophical
stance of free software. Regardless, I estimate that our influence is
greater than our sheer numbers. Think of it. You boos may come in and
ask what hardware they should buy. You can encourage them to buy
certain hardware because there will be more support if there is free
software for it in addition to proprietary drivers. This applies in the
buss world as well as the public social arena. For instance, a friend
who own a restaurant has been picking my brains as to what type of
hardware to buy as a family computer. You can bet your life's savings
that I will not encourage him to purchase Broadcom products. In fact I
may present him with my experiences with airport extreme and broadcom,
and let him make his mind. He seems to be able to make wise decisions
on his own. He came to me and a few others about buying dell. When the
subject that the television media had pointed out that dell had the
worst customer service, and when someone told him that you were probably
locked into paying what every dell set their repair prices at because
they have a virtual monopoly on proprietary parts ... well lets just say
that dell was no longer an option despite fair initial prices for the
machine.
So don't underestimate your power of influence down to simple stats
about how many of us linux user make up the market. If this is the
measuring stick that broadcom is using, they better wisen up as IBM's
support of linux (millions? of dollars) suggests that they better start
paying attention to linux.
Regardless of what you think about this tactic or people such as de
Raadt, this tactic is already set into action by Theo de Raadt's Openbsd
crowd and as such perhaps legitimated.
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