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Dirk Hohndel - Intel Corporation

How to Convince Hardware Vendors to Open-Source their Drivers

Linux enjoys amazing success, from hand-held devices to supercomputers. Most people agree that one of the major reasons for this success is the fact that Linux is open source. Still there are lots of devices that have no drivers or no open source drivers.

This is annoying for the individual who wants to use such a device; but worse, it is a threat for the success of Linux long-term. Binary drivers are creating a support nightmare and a certification and security hassle. Longer term they tend to make systems less stable - all of this is a problem, and the need for a combination of these drivers makes things so much worse.

This presentation will walk you through the typical arguments that are brought up against open source drivers and will help you to address them. The goal is for you to walk out of this presentation and to be better equipped for discussions either inside your own company or when engaging other companies whose devices you are considering buying.

Obviously there's no guarantee that this will work in any specific situation (it has worked quite a few times and I'll show examples), but the more people try, and the more people try it with good, rational arguments, the better are our chances of success.