Re: Free software
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On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 11:33:14PM -0500, Doug wrote:
[...]
> I thought I put this to bed, but apparently not.
That's because the way you write suggests that you didn't
"get" a couple of things which are very dear to many folks
around here (note I say "suggest". I can't know for sure.
A communication problem can be at any end or... in the
middle :)
> The complaint was about NVidia software. Well, there has
> been for some time a "FREE" program. How come it's not
> satisfactory for so many users of Nvidia cards?
That's because there are two "free". An old saw puts it
like "free as in beer" vs "free as in speech". To adapt
it to more modern terminology, I'd say "free as in Facebook"
vs -uh- "free as in Debian" ;-)
> All the wonderful Linux programmers have had YEARS to
> modify it and make it better than what Nvidia provides,
> but it seems that they haven't succeeded.
But how? Nvidia *refuses* to publish documentation on its
hardware. Only painstaking reverse engineering is possible
(which the shrinkwrap EULA forbids: thanks heavens, this
can be ignored in most civilised jurisdictions).
Given that, the results of the Nouveau project can only
be called impressive.
> I am very happy with my Nvidia cards and Nvidia drivers.
> What the devil is everybody bitching about?
That's nice for you. Note that I'm by no means implying you
should (have the moral obligation of, or whatever) change
that. I'm just trying to offer you an insight into how
some of us tick. Mutual understanding can only help, no?
> And, of course, doesn't it make sense that the company that
> invented and produces and sells a product ought to know more
> about how to operate it than a bunch of "de-engineers?"
Sometimes. Sometimes not. Case in point: at my $DAYJOB, I
am (among others) responsible for the care and feeding of
a small program I wrote a couple of years ago. Since this
program's users are in a department on its financial way
down, bug fixing for this program doesn't get allocated
too much resources. I'm not *allowed* to fix bugs (which
I know annoy its users!). I try to do some minimum under
the radar out of respect for the users.
In a nutshell: whenever the customers (those who pay) and
the users (those who suffer) are not the same, you'll get
conflicts of interest, and the company's aim won't be to
deliver the best program possible. The wonderful engineers
in the company can't put "all their art" at your service.
Your vision of Nvidia is too idealized. The engineer in
there is just human, pressed between constraints, and
most probably overworked. Or outsourced.
Cheers
- -- tomás
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