Really? I specifically chose an ATI card for its Linux support, and so far I've been extremely satisfied with both the open source and the binary blob drivers.

Really? I specifically chose an ATI card for its Linux support, and so far I've been extremely satisfied with both the open source and the binary blob drivers. The nv driver used by default in most distros is quite sluggish, and is plagued by all manner of quality issues. The radeonhd driver in comparison is quite stable, implements working VT switching, and full EXA acceleration with a start on 3D. (EDIT: nouveau will provide a very good replacement for nv, but so far its deployment is limited) As for the closed drivers, is stability really a problem? While I haven't had an NVIDIA card for a year or so, I seem to recall a fair number of kernel panics in graphically-intensive programs, while I have yet to experience one using fglrx (although the comparison is a big flawed, since my needs have changed quite a bit). Speed is also quite acceptable and does what I need. I'm willing to grant that nvidia is better than fglrx. Honestly I don't do all that much 3D work on Linux. But in my experience, calling nvidia "far and away better" does ATI a bit of a disservice.