S3TC Is Still Problematic For Mesa Developers, Users

[tomato]

At this point is S3TC licensing the only thing keeping VIA/S3 alive anymore?

Sucks since it would be nice if they where still capable of being solid competition for Intel, AMD and Nvidia.

VIA is still making processors

[ethana2]

Ok, so my understanding is that AMD and nVidia can use S3 Texture Compression in their proprietary drivers because they've licensed the patents in question from S3, but Free Software implementations cannot, because those patents are not part of the Open Innovation Network. Would it be possible in theory for AMD, Intel, or nVidia to distribute the S3TC Mesa library as a binary under the brand of their respective drivers? That is to say, if AMD already ships support for S3TC in Catalyst, could they theoretically make a standalone "Catalyst" S3TC driver to work with the Free Software radeon drivers to implement this feature?

[Kivada]

At this point is S3TC licensing the only thing keeping VIA/S3 alive anymore?

Sucks since it would be nice if they where still capable of being solid competition for Intel, AMD and Nvidia.

[phoronix]

Phoronix: S3TC Is Still Problematic For Mesa Developers, Users

While there's now ETC2 texture compression and ASTC texture compression that were announced last year, S3 Texture Compression (S3TC) continues to be widely used by OpenGL games and application. This patent-encumbered means of graphics texture compression continues to cause massive headaches for open-source developers and end-users and will be the case for years to come...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTQzNTg