在 Free Software Foundation 的網頁找到一篇，說 Richard Stallman 抗議 ATI，差點被警察抓了去。

在下看來都是 Richard Stallman 拿個小小的紙牌而已，要動用四名警員，一名便裝探員，難怪警察常被批評為「國家機器」......

你真覺得那東西算「小」嗎？

你真覺得那東西算「小」嗎？

算!!!

不過他是為了什麼原因不滿ati的東西啊 (抱歉我懶得細看了)

算!!!

不過他是為了什麼原因不滿ati的東西啊 (抱歉我懶得細看了)

該文最後附上的這篇文章，搜尋有「NVidious」這個字的那段有提到。

簡單說就是希望硬體製造商應該公開技術規格，以便大眾都可以依規格寫出相關軟體或驅動程式吧。

下面這篇是作假的嘛？
http://www.ati.com/companyinfo/press/1999/4241.html

It's important that we don't allow ATI and NVidious to feel comfortable about the way they mistreat our community. (See an article in ZNet about this issue. Search for "NVidious" on that webpage for more information.)

下面這篇是作假的嘛？
http://www.ati.com/companyinfo/press/1999/4241.html

Is complete driver source code available?
A4: Some of the technologies supported in our driver are protected by non-disclosure agreements with third parties, so we cannot legally release the complete source code to our driver. It is NOT open source. We do, however, include source code for the control panel and certain other public segments. We also actively assist developers in the Open Source community with their work, so if you absolutely require an open source driver for your graphics card, we can recommend using drivers from the DRI project, Utah-GLX project, or others.

Brown admits that other activist groups, such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), have mounted effective mainstream advertising campaigns. He is also aware of activists of the past, such as Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing, who advocated that "you do whatever it takes" to promote your cause. "That's probably good advice," Brown says, "but that's difficult. We're aware that marketing language works, we know our message could be more effective, but that's just not ethically the way this organization is going to conduct itself. And we know that that may make us less effective, but, overall, we think we can't give up those principles, even for more success."

為了玩Linux,我決定用nVidia,因為ATi對Linux支援很差

然而看來，現在 ATI 的程式碼是不開放，硬體規格也不開放，對嗎？所以這又引發了 RMS 和 Linus 對於核心內加入專屬驅動程式碼的不同看法（那段報導好像還是不久的，可是忘記了在哪裡看過）。RMS 的律師認為把專屬源碼加入核心內是不乎合 GPL，也間接的說使用 Linux 有捱告的可能，這樣也就是要抗議 ATI 的理由吧！

Here is the email:

It seems that your kororaa live CD contains the non-GPL nvidia and ati
binary drivers. I hereby request that you cease distribution of these
drivers as part of your live CD for the following reason: This
distribution both goes against the open source spirit of linux and is a
license violation of the linux kernel.

To expand on this later claim:
* When *you* build these drivers, you include GPL linux kernel code in
the binary result, which *you* then distribute.
* The GPL license clause 2 does not allow combination of GPL and non-GPL
work in a bigger work (your live CD) when the 2 pieces are not
reasonably independent. (Strictly speaking this means you're not allowed
to include the linux kernel on your CD; to keep your CD functional
however the easier way is to drop the nvidia/ati drivers)
* The GPL license clause 3 does not allow you to distribute a derived
work unless it's also GPL licensed. The compiled ATI/NVidia drivers are
clearly a derived work (even though parts of the drivers most likely are
not, parts clearly are, and you're distributing it all together).

While I applaud your effort to make linux easier to use, I urge you to
play be the same rules (GPL) as everyone else is playing by.