[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux Driver Petition

[Steve Baker]

Cameron wrote:
> 
> LibraNet is hosting a "Linux Driver Petition" in hopes of receiving
> 2,000,000 signatures in as fast as possible.  With a good turnout,
> we could use this to coax some of the hardware vendors into releasing
> specs or drivers for their products.  I believe this started on the
> 30th, and I was number 8,224.  Not bad for 3 days worth.  Please take
> a minute to help out the Linux community.  Enjoy.
> http://www.libranet.com/petition.html  (spotted on Linux.com)

>From what contact I've had with hardware vendors in attempting to
get register and programming details for stuff like 3D graphics
adaptors, I can tell you that they don't regard petitions as a
useful source of information when deciding whether to release
this information.  They are fully aware of how big the Linux
market is, they know that petitions are ridiculously easy to
rig, and they already have a very good idea of what they have
to gain (or lose) by releasing their treasured information.

By all means register your copy of Linux with the
Linux counter though:

    http://counter.li.org

This is probably more of an effort to collect a good mailing
list of active Linux users than it is a petition.  Why else
would they *require* you to enter your email address when they
specifically state that it won't be shown on the petition itself?

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1 at airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker at hti.com      (work)