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It's official: ATI Radeon drivers to be open sourced

It's tuning out to be a great week. First OOXML defeated (for a few months) and now this:

AMD briefed Linux.com this morning on a pending announcement regarding the open sourcing of drivers for ATI graphics cards. It's official -- AMD will make code and specifications for ATI graphics cards available on the Internet on September 10.

On the issue of maintainership, Schlaeger says, "We want to enable the open source community to carry the development forward. We won't let them alone. It's not something that we dump a bit of code, a bit of spec, and say, 'This is it. You asked for it, you have it. Feel free, and have fun.'" He noted that the company took a similar approach on the Linux port of Opteron.

Myths, Lies, and Truths about the Linux kernel

Greg Kroah-Hartman recently spoke ath the Ottowa Linux Symposium addressing the most often heared myths and lies about the Linux kernel and debunked them, hopefully for good this time. The speech mostly deals with drivers, but is a very good speech indeed and I recommend that anyone interested in Linux read it. His key points that anyone should remember:

• Linux supports more devices than anyone else.
• Linux is evolution, not design.
• Closed source [kernel] modules are illegal.
• Documentation/HOWTO
• We need help with review and testing.
• Total world domination is proceeding as planned.

Good to hear, especially that last point.