Thread: Closed Source Packages in Maemo
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allnameswereout is offline allnameswereout
2009-09-25 , 23:59
Posts: 3,397 | Thanked: 1,212 times | Joined on Jul 2008 @ Netherlands
#172
Originally Posted by Alex Atkin UK View Post
Also talking about hiring a programmer is great if you are a big business, but as an end-user its cheaper to buy a copy of Windows where it "just works".
True, but if you're using N900 in corporate environment the freedom is quite attractive. It is also possible to vote with your money as consumer, just a bit harder. That is why I endorse a donation-based system where the users like you and me, being part of community, can vote with their wallet. Because sometimes a feature or a bugfix is worth some money.

Funny you should bring up PulseAudio too as ever since Mandriva switched to PulseAudio I cannot get sound to work properly. PulseAudio does not support digital passthru over SPDIF which highlights my point exactly of what for me is the problem with Linux. They happily remove functionality I have been using for years in favour of something new and better, which is not feature complete. Just like how mucked up KDE 4 is compared to KDE 3.
Yes, OSS also supported sound cards which ALSA did not support. X.Org also still does not fully support some graphics cards. It is all a matter of 1) developer itch or financial incent 2) rarity of hardware or feature. If PA or KDE4 or ALSA doesn't cut it for you, you use the predecessor (legacy software) instead. There is nothing wrong with that, and there is nothing wrong with running an old, stable version of an OS. I also gave PA as example because it supports audio over network seemingly. There is no such thing for OSX or Windows, while PA is ported to OSX and Windows.
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