Open-Source VIA Graphics Driver Hopes To Be Mainlined For Linux 5.20

[Awesomeness]

Tell this to all the niche production machinery, and anything else that stays in kernel for years, and just a handful of people use it.
What about Nintendo 64 support mainlined with 5.12, just a year ago.

My comment refers to that crap equally.

[dragon321]

But the only reason a company would ever use BSD's over more modern unix-like systems is that they explicitly do not want to give back, see Sony or Netflix, both giving more to Linux then they ever gave to the BSD's they use.

Actually Netflix supports FreeBSD. And GPL is not preventing usage of Linux without contributing back. Sure, it makes it a lot harder but won't completely prevent it. For example Android - it's based on Linux but how much its popularity influences other Linux based operating systems like desktop distributions? And you can't even run Android software or drivers on Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch/etc. without some sort of compatibility layers despite both are Linux based. Not to mention that most Android apps require proprietary Google services.

[sinepgib]

But the only reason a company would ever use BSD's over more modern unix-like systems is that they explicitly do not want to give back, see Sony or Netflix, both giving more to Linux then they ever gave to the BSD's they use.

Netflix sent some cool optimization to FreeBSD.

[NotMine999]

VIA is everywhere.

Like Realtek chipsets in NICs

[NotMine999]

This is always subjective. I personally don't need any infiniband drivers or xen stuff...also not the Microsoft azure crap. But does this mean it is useless for others? As long there are users and maintainers i'm OK with it.

And modular...so my platforms don't load if they don't need it.

[Alexmitter]

Linux is a testbed for innovation (even for older, niche hardware there are still innovations to be had). This is ultimately an end result of the "bazaar" nature of it all.

If you want a more reserved "cathedral" approach, there is FreeBSD (and certainly OpenBSD) though you do run the risk of less knowledgeable / beginners calling it "old" or "retro". Which is especially strange because VIA's older GPU drivers aren't intended to be included there

Less knowledgeable / fanboyish would call it modern, usable or production ready. Lets get real, the BSD's are a snapshot of how unix-like kernels and user-lands were in the 90s, they fit right into a group with IBM AIX and HP-UX and nothing is wrong with that because there are legacy machines for which a classic unix is fun to explore. But the only reason a company would ever use BSD's over more modern unix-like systems is that they explicitly do not want to give back, see Sony or Netflix, both giving more to Linux then they ever gave to the BSD's they use.

[schmidtbag]

VIA is everywhere.

abu_shawarib
They've also been around since 1987.

[Quackdoc]

This the first I ever heard of this company.

VIA is everywhere.

[abu_shawarib]

This the first I ever heard of this company.

[schmidtbag]

As long there are users and maintainers i'm OK with it.

This alone should be the only thing that dictates whether something says or goes in the kernel. And just as has been the case for many devices, nothing is preventing enthusiasts from just compiling their own kernel to use them. Not that it matters anyway, since most people using such devices do not benefit from newer kernels.