In this case Microsoft doesn't need to fight Linux. The burden of proof is on Linux to succeed. If there are no Linux drivers, that's probably just because no one paid for them to be written.
ATI tried providing documentation in response to the community's pleas. If memory serves, the community responded by demanding example code, friendly API's, and so forth. The classic "moving goalposts", if you will.
Citations needed. Of course there will be some people who will always ruminate about how things could be even better, but that doesn't undo what AMD accomplished. The feature matrix for open source Radeon drivers is a bit of a patchwork, but far better than it was before they open sourced the documentation.
I think that Microsoft is feeling the heat from Linux/Android, which is why they pushed Intel (& AMD) to go Windows-8 only.
It also is quite likely that that AMD Hondo requires power management features that are not currently available in the kernel/ UEFI bootloader for Linux. Hopefully someone will find a way to support the APU, even if not officially.
What AMD and intel don't seem to realize is that people like me have no qualms moving to platforms that do support linux (Even if we end up using a raspberry pi to do our main computing).
The result is that amd will just alienate some of it's customers and end up with a smaller audience. Well done, AMD.
I think they believe that such an audience is rather small. However, I do think it's a stupid move. If they continue supporting Windows exclusively, they might run into problems with the server crowd. Which is a pretty important group.
After some thought, what's interesting about this story isn't that some people are making some hardware that will work only in Windows. That happens all the time. What's interesting is that this fact is attracting any sort of attention at all.
I'm 99% certain this is Microsoft trying to ensure that OEMs don't cheapen the Windows 8 brand by reusing hardware designs across their Android and Windows 8 tablets. Not all consumers understand the difference between software and hardware, and if they see the same tablet in a Windows 8 version and a cheaper Android version, a lot of them will chose the Android version without a second thought.
Since the chipsets lack Linux/Android support entirely, reusing the other parts of a tablet design will not be quite as easy as writing a different image to a flash chip. I'm no embedded systems engineer, but I imagine having to completely replace the chipset architecture (let alone the chipset itself) would be a significant deterrent to entirely reusing a Windows 8 tablet's design for an Android one.
Even if Microsoft chose to coerce OEMs into pricing their Android and Windows 8 offerings identically (or, on a cold day in hell, temporarily waive the Windows 8 license fee), competing for consumers with (arguably) superior software alone against an enormous incumbent with an established platform is a fight Microsoft has been on the other side of far too many times to want to start out of the gate.
Alternatively, perhaps Microsoft is subsidizing their OEM tablets, and they don't want savvy customers to buy subsidized Windows 8 tablets and flash their Android "ROMs" of choice onto them.
This sucks for regular Linux users who might like to see either of these chipsets in a new generation of netbooks, but I imagine we aren't too important to AMD and Intel's bottom lines at the moment.
It's not the chipsets that lacks Linux support. It's Linux that doesn't (yet) support the chipsets. Also, unless Intel and AMD keep the specs secret, there is little they can do against Linux supporting them.
What I'm reading from this is that Microsoft is dedicating developers to make sure Windows 8 supports the chipsets (possibly introducing ACPI-like brain-dead technologies in the process).
So the news is that we don't get fglrx support for Hondo? That doesn't sound nearly as dramatic as "being Windows-only product" etc. Frankly I couldn't care less for fglrx support. If there is demand then it will be reverse engineered, like tons of other hardware has been.
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 40.3 ms ] threadhttp://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature
It also is quite likely that that AMD Hondo requires power management features that are not currently available in the kernel/ UEFI bootloader for Linux. Hopefully someone will find a way to support the APU, even if not officially.
The result is that amd will just alienate some of it's customers and end up with a smaller audience. Well done, AMD.
I'm sure that'll make Microsoft stronger in the future.
Since the chipsets lack Linux/Android support entirely, reusing the other parts of a tablet design will not be quite as easy as writing a different image to a flash chip. I'm no embedded systems engineer, but I imagine having to completely replace the chipset architecture (let alone the chipset itself) would be a significant deterrent to entirely reusing a Windows 8 tablet's design for an Android one.
Even if Microsoft chose to coerce OEMs into pricing their Android and Windows 8 offerings identically (or, on a cold day in hell, temporarily waive the Windows 8 license fee), competing for consumers with (arguably) superior software alone against an enormous incumbent with an established platform is a fight Microsoft has been on the other side of far too many times to want to start out of the gate.
Alternatively, perhaps Microsoft is subsidizing their OEM tablets, and they don't want savvy customers to buy subsidized Windows 8 tablets and flash their Android "ROMs" of choice onto them.
This sucks for regular Linux users who might like to see either of these chipsets in a new generation of netbooks, but I imagine we aren't too important to AMD and Intel's bottom lines at the moment.
What I'm reading from this is that Microsoft is dedicating developers to make sure Windows 8 supports the chipsets (possibly introducing ACPI-like brain-dead technologies in the process).