Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld) [LWN.net]

Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld)

Posted Aug 6, 2003 19:31 UTC (Wed) by mmarq (guest, #2332)
In reply to: Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld) by Peter
Parent article: Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld)

To the heart of the matter.
FIXED ABI
What is the law that states that an ABI has to stay fixed for ever?...that is the problem with M$, that makes nobody really code to WDM.

I "can imagine" an ABI is a burden to maintain and it can limit severely "wilderness" above that layer,... hey but isnt Linux now all about compatibility and stability?,... and isnt that also why there is in kernel modules so that we can have a compartment of diferent codes mechanisms ?...

So cant we have, example, ALSA be made a "super-module", that is, a module that has none dependency to other equal "super-module" and at the same time is an ABI to all lower level "AUDIO hardware device drivers", that are outside of kernel and interfacing via DKMS ??

We can have also, a in kernel D-BUS mechanism so that a "AUDIO hardware device driver" for the ALSA API/ABI can communicate whit a "TVcapture hardware device driver for the V4L API/ABI without engaging in strange dependencys!... When ALSA API/ABI CHANGE that DOSENT mean V4L API/ABI HAS TO CHANGE to.

I dont know about AIX an it UDI implementation, but i belive the problem is that it try to be an unified vision allover,... but whit diferent ,example, API/ABI for ALSA and V4L most of code remain inside the ALSA or V4l structures, inside the kernel as modules, and as native code as it is possible.

For all propose this is a "Multiple" abstration layers "Split" driver model
that lieave to hardware industry little they can do with closed proprietary drivers, but also gives them a word to say when a API/ABI change...

The actual paradigma is to continue, now that 2.6 is about to burst, to try to fix 1 to 2 years old "hardware device drivers" because hardware industry dont disclose technical data for the brand new stuff... and in the end is not hard to imagine, isnt it, a kernel that has equal hardware support than windows but wich sources are about 1 Giga, and toke 4,5 or 6 years to get to the stable version... IT COULD BE THE COLAPSE OF LINUX!

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