Linux Developers: It's Time To Open Source All Device Drivers
30 Jun 2008 - 09:02:18

By Charles Babcock Mon Jun 23, 5:30 PM ET The developers of the are trying to push against hardware manufacturers that don't want an code associated with their products. About 98% of the makers of portable disk drives, graphics adapter cards, mobile wireless cards, and other hardware devices supply an open source code driver for the Linux kernel. But there are still a few holdouts. Normally, pressure is applied by major system manufacturers, such as IBM, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard, that want their systems to work with as many components as possible. These manufacturers, with joining their ranks, insist that open source drivers accompany the devices they build into products. The alternative is a device driver that's kept proprietary; it's been compiled into ones and zeros, so it's difficult for any programmer, other than the one who originated it, to read and understand it. Some companies believe open source drivers too easily reveal trade secrets or at least proprietary advantage. Intel used to be one of them. "Six or seven years ago, Intel kept everything closed. Now it's the poster child of open sourcing everything," said Don Kohn, chief operating officer of the Linux Foundation, an industry group formed to support the development of Linux. Oracle, IBM, HP, and Intel pay dues to the foundation, and it employs Linus Torvalds, Linux lead developer. Intel now hires developers for the purpose of producing open source drivers for the graphics processors in its ...

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