4 ms·

What's the point of that? One of the benefit of having a FOSS platform is that you can keep supporting and updating hardware and software that in the normal pro

What's the point of that? One of the benefit of having a FOSS platform is that you can keep supporting and updating hardware and software that in the normal proprietary economy would have been abandoned a mere few years after entering the market. If instead of pushing for reverse engineering we simply made more and more people buy Linux-compatible devices (which still doesn't mean they'd run FOSS) we would have a humongous amount of perfectly fine hardware locked down and unable to be properly used.

kzrdude 4y ago
I think if say 15% of buyers demand Linux support, then it can become a standard feature of most sold equipment. Just like Windows support.
- diffeomorphism 4y ago
  > Just like Windows support. Completely non-existent? Either a laptop comes with windows or you get zero support. See every chromebook ever.
wmf 4y ago
That's martyrdom and it isn't even for a good cause IMO. If someone buys Windows-only hardware that loses support after a few years, that's on them.
- acuozzo 4y ago
  > If someone buys Windows-only hardware that loses support after a few years, that's on them. Unfortunately, the FOSS world isn't always able to cater to professional and prosumer crowds. If it is absolutely critical to my work that a piece of hardware has feature X, then I'm going to buy it regardless. I'd choose a FOSS-compatible solution if it were available, but this hasn't been the case many times in my career. (Yes, I can provide concrete examples if necessary.)