AMD's Hiring Open-Source Graphics Developers Still

[Shimi]

Can anyone please explain this to me?
Why would AMD want to pay people to develop two separate drivers?

If they don't want their driver open-source why invest in it at all and not tell people to use Catalyst?

If the do want to have an awesome open source driver why not just release the code of Catalyst and have one driver to maintain?

Isn't it just not profitable for them to develop 2 pieces of software to accomplish the same task?

[89c51]

Oh, and don't encourage students to drop out; it sends the wrong message, namely "I am a twit who cannot understand why people sometimes want to pursue long-term personal improvement over short-term monetary gain."

it was a joke

[MostAwesomeDude]

school can wait

users demanding FOSS drivers cannot

quit NOW

I currently work for OSUOSL, so I am not exactly inactive in the community. I also write lots of free-time things; examine Bravo, Darklight, Lye, etc. from my personal stash for some examples.

Oh, and don't encourage students to drop out; it sends the wrong message, namely "I am a twit who cannot understand why people sometimes want to pursue long-term personal improvement over short-term monetary gain."

[89c51]

For those wondering about Marek, Tom, and I: Tom and I are still in school. I don't know about Marek but I seem to remember he is also a student.

school can wait

users demanding FOSS drivers cannot

quit NOW

[MostAwesomeDude]

For those wondering about Marek, Tom, and I: Tom and I are still in school. I don't know about Marek but I seem to remember he is also a student.

[agd5f]

they only set this bit because they do not found any in local area.

AMD has never really had a formal requirement that our open source developers be based out of an office. I've worked remotely for years now. Some people prefer an office, others prefer remote work. I only mentioned it because it was somewhat unclear from the job post.

[V!NCENT]

Intel and AMD hiring lots of developers to work on open source projects... what the hell is going on? Is there something big coming that we don't know about?

Microsoft is porting Windows to ARM and expect SOCs running Windows 8 in a short while. This means that:
-Intel is not friend with MS anymore, also because of Meamo;
-Microsoft is pressured because there are so many Linux devices nowadays that AMD and Intel are starting to see that it's a new Silicon Valley aera.

[Veerappan]

Intel and AMD hiring lots of developers to work on open source projects... what the hell is going on? Is there something big coming that we don't know about?

The mythical year of the Linux Desktop?

I have a feeling that both AMD and Intel are doing it for the same reasons. Both companies have been integrating their GPUs into their mainstream CPUs (e.g. AMD's Fusion). This means that every CPU sale is also a GPU sale. AMD and Intel don't want users running *nix to have a bad out of the box experience. Even if you can install a binary driver from AMD, it's not installed by default in most distributions. Some users might not even know that the fglrx/Catalyst option exists for their system, or their administrators might not give them sufficient privileges to install it themselves.

Also, in the case of the open-source drivers, it's probably AMD's belief that a high-quality (and community developed/maintained) open source driver might reduce some of the demands on their closed-source developers which would free them up to work on the CAD/Professional apps that the driver is actually meant to be for.

[devius]

Intel and AMD hiring lots of developers to work on open source projects... what the hell is going on? Is there something big coming that we don't know about?

[Veerappan]

Sounds realy interesting to be able to work from anywhere in the world without having to relocaye and such. Sadly don't have the skills for it :}

The working remotely bit was new to me. I had checked out these postings with great interest the last time that they were mentioned, but I didn't see any mention about being able to work from my current location. If it is the case that these positions can be taken outside of Canada (moving to WI, USA in a few months), I will definitely have to look into it more deeply.