Comment Re:It's just more "Shut up" software (Score 1) 159
Trouble is that when the driver is buggy, version-specific (herein lies its biggest problem and the biggest issue with being binary-only), -and- they're holding their cards close to their chest, well, they're not doing themselves any favours either 'cos it means they're doing Linux development half in the dark (99% of their development team is still Windows-oriented and will remain that way). By making the thing binary-only, they're screwing themselves out of the best development team they could have, namely the people who, whether for money or whatever, deal with and develop for Linux on a daily basis, and therefore know the APIs they're developing for and so on.
Personally, I'm inclined to stay with the consensus on this one, that it's not enough. Granted, Creative's worried about their proprietary information and so on, but why have they been dominant up to this point? Not because they alone implement the standard, but because they provide the best, most compatible implementation. Opening it up gets the developer base, gives Linux users a good reason to buy an SBLive, and while it opens up the interface to competitors, it also means that people are going to take the time to make that driver something worth using.
Personally, I'm inclined to stay with the consensus on this one, that it's not enough. Granted, Creative's worried about their proprietary information and so on, but why have they been dominant up to this point? Not because they alone implement the standard, but because they provide the best, most compatible implementation. Opening it up gets the developer base, gives Linux users a good reason to buy an SBLive, and while it opens up the interface to competitors, it also means that people are going to take the time to make that driver something worth using.
