An Open Letter to nVidia

To All Responsible at nVidia for the production of device drivers,

I want to thank you for producing binary drivers for Linux at a time when most other companies don’t feel that the Linux market penetration is larger enough to develop drivers. So thanks for doing that! In fact, that is why I exclusively buy nVidia for my machines whenever possible. Sure, ATI is sharing NOW, but you were the first to divert some programmers to produce it and your reward is faithful customers like me. Of course, supplying closed-source binary drivers is not the perfect solution, as you have no doubt heard from others. However, I think this is an important first step which allows me to use my computer’s hardware to its maximum and allows Linux programmers to make GUIs capable of eye candy rivaling (and in some cases surpasing) that of Windows and Macintosh.

Continue to provide these and I will continue to buy nVidia - but please see what you can do towards getting open source drivers out there. I predict that if you can find a way to do this to ATI, you will get even MORE devotees such as myself. People get REALLY into the open/closed source driver debate, so being the first would give you considerable leverage. I understand that the graphics market is very cut-throat and you can’t afford to give away trade secrets to ATI, but the sooner an open source driver can be released without hurting your bottom line, the sooner droves will flock to nVidia. Not only that, but by having the drivers open sourced, programmers will be much better able to write programs taking advantage of your great product.

Sincerely,

Eric Mesa

• Nvidia