VIA Announces Strategic Open Source Driver Development Initiative

[jeffr76]

Check it out
http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/pressroom/pressrelease.jsp?press_release_no=2088

in a nut shell Via will open up http://linux.via.com.tw this month
to support VIA CN700, CX700/M, CN896 and the new VIA VX800 chipsets, with plans to add more later

[forumworx]

Sounds like someones feeling the heat from Intel and NVidia.

It's inevitable, Intel has open source drivers and there moving to smaller form factor PCs like a wrecking ball.

Intel will still crush these guys unless they get their prices in order.

The day sof a $200-300 sff mobo are gone.

Long Intel baby

[PlatypusPedersen]

Great news. The VIA Mini, Nano and Pico-ITX motherboards are interesting pieces of hardware to run MD's on, at least for SD material.

[totallymaxed]

Check it out
http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/pressroom/pressrelease.jsp?press_release_no=2088

in a nut shell Via will open up http://linux.via.com.tw this month
to support VIA CN700, CX700/M, CN896 and the new VIA VX800 chipsets, with plans to add more later

This announcement from Via is really great news!

[Zaerc]

Usually desperate measures like these mean they are close to going out of business.  They could have done this years ago...

[totallymaxed]

Usually desperate measures like these mean they are close to going out of business.  They could have done this years ago...

Well I'm not sure I'd see it like that. They are reacting to what the 'Big three' Intel, nVidia & ATI are already doing to varying degrees. I think the key hear is that all 4 of the key players in the video & chipset business are taking Open Source seriously at last. This can only be a good thing as it will create more competition and will renew the efforts by all of these companies to make sure they have good support for Linux bases operating systems.

Andrew

[gazzzman]

I for one think this is a positive step!
simply the greater the hardware base.. the more people will go open source!!
I notice with considerable pleasure.. the little arcade machines the people I work for rent out have just made the move from dos to Linux
the more the better!!

[totallymaxed]

I for one think this is a positive step!
simply the greater the hardware base.. the more people will go open source!!
I notice with considerable pleasure.. the little arcade machines the people I work for rent out have just made the move from dos to Linux
the more the better!!

Every small platform win is good news ;-)

[nosilla99]

Certainly a positive step, its not about competition its about staying in the market place.  All of the manufactures have invested huge sums of money in R&D and production.  However by not giving full support to linux VIA have effectively reduced the market for their technologies.

On the other hand nVidia have previously committed to updating open source drivers for not only their current product range but have continued to support older chipsets which has given them a clear advantage within the linux based computing environment.

All of the manufactures have excellent products, but that does not matter if their policies restrict the size of the market for which they are supplying.

It will be interesting to see how far VIA go in terms of releasing open source code

NOS

 

[totallymaxed]

Certainly a positive step, its not about competition its about staying in the market place.  All of the manufactures have invested huge sums of money in R&D and production.  However by not giving full support to linux VIA have effectively reduced the market for their technologies.

On the other hand nVidia have previously committed to updating open source drivers for not only their current product range but have continued to support older chipsets which has given them a clear advantage within the linux based computing environment.

All of the manufactures have excellent products, but that does not matter if their policies restrict the size of the market for which they are supplying.

It will be interesting to see how far VIA go in terms of releasing open source code

NOS

 

Of course its about 'competition'... all four companies are competing for business from the same customers (end users or system builders) and also for high value niche markets (Home automation is one of those for sure)... sell a box with Windows on it and the only one making money is Microsoft... sell much same hardware into a 'vertical' market like ours and the margins are massively better...

[nosilla99]

Andrew,

I believe we are saying the same thing, however the term competition can be looked at from two view points.  Competition is a bad thing for manufacturers as it drives down the margins, so their prime target is not to compete but to have a market in the first place.

nVidia and ATI both identified that the provision of open source linux drivers would increase the size of the market in which they could operate and maximise hardware product sales.  Others such as Matrox have been content with supplying to a specific high end market and therefore maintain margins although with fewer sales.

I guess its just terminology in the end   

NOS

[totallymaxed]

Andrew,

I believe we are saying the same thing, however the term competition can be looked at from two view points.  Competition is a bad thing for manufacturers as it drives down the margins, so their prime target is not to compete but to have a market in the first place.

nVidia and ATI both identified that the provision of open source linux drivers would increase the size of the market in which they could operate and maximise hardware product sales.  Others such as Matrox have been content with supplying to a specific high end market and therefore maintain margins although with fewer sales.

I guess its just terminology in the end   

NOS

Your right of course. But my point was that for a long time Via have had the low energy embedded market to themselves... ie no real competition from the 'big guys'. Now all three major players not only have increasingly powerful low energy chipsets for motherboard integration but they have also to varying degrees made it very easy to build solutions on their platforms using Open Source software. In Intels case they are marching right into Via space with last weeks announcement of there new 2-3 Watt class processors and support chipsets. Its this single announcement that finally made Via move... Intel inside 6 months will have not only very powerful low energy chipsets but they already have good Open Source drivers and support programs. Every Via developer I have spoke with in the digital signage, embedded display and other vertical markets are saying they will jump to Intel when the first of these new motherboards hit the market.

So your right no one looks for competition ;-) .... but market forces tend to make it happen anyway!

Andrew

[grepico]

As horrifying as this is, I think I agree with Zaerc on this.

Intel's move into the low voltage market is the equivalent of when MS decided to enter the web browser market.  VIA, much like Netscape can see the writing on the wall and knows that their days are numbered.  This move by VIA to finally truly enter the open source market is a panic induced attempt to salvage at least a small part of the market.  I personally think they're screwed.  As another poster noted, many people (including myself) will leap to Intel chipsets asap.

On a side note, it's interesting that VIA's approach has been very similar to Microsoft's business practices.  When there was no competition it's "Oh no, you'll have to pay for drivers" now that the big boys are in the fray it's "Oh, did we mention our drivers are free now?"  LOL  The irony is that had VIA been opensource from the start they may have been able to maintain their market share through this.

[bulek]

Hi,

I'll just add few my thoughts. I have a long history of use of EPIA mobos (started with M9000, and then ME6000, then SP8000 - latter died quite fast...).

And a lot of frustration, cause VIA was always fooling around with Linux users... Now I bought two mini ITX mobos for 65EUR(each included with processor 1.2g Fanless) from Intel and they are quite happy under LMCE (although graphics is badly supported) and said goodbye to Via...

Will "return" when Via's mobos will be properly supported with drivers under Linux, although they also seem now quite pricey in comparison to what Intel did recently...

HTH,

regards,

Bulek.
 

[1audio]

Via's Linux drivers are a trail of tears. . . They have been buggy and unreliable for video and not a lot better for audio. This may be the acknowledgement that they can't write drivers and are ready to dume the project on the open source ("free" to them) community. I don't think there is a lot that would have really needed protection in their drivers anyway. Their IP is old.