Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Feb 12, 2003 1:55 UTC (Wed) by fdesloges (guest, #291)
Parent article: Porting device drivers to the 2.6 kernel

Wow!

This is highly valuable stuff. Are you certain you want to give this away
for free after only a few days ?

This alone would be a very good reason to subscribe. And as reference
stuff it will still be valuable many months down the road.

Maybe it could fit in a "available to non-subsciber 4 months later"
category ? Or make only a few articles available (and the index of course
to hook subscribers) ?

Whatever you do, thanks!

FD

to post comments

Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Feb 12, 2003 9:58 UTC (Wed) by KotH (guest, #4660) [Link] (7 responses)

I wouldnt do that. LWN has a very good reputation as information source
around the open source community. A "closed for all but subscribed ppl"
policy would surely destroy that reputation.

Yes, i know that LWN doesnt have as much subscribers as it should have :(
but this is IMHO not the right way to get more.

Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Feb 12, 2003 11:00 UTC (Wed) by bruno (subscriber, #4387) [Link] (4 responses)

Do you work for nothing? Do you give all your time to other in exchange
of nothing? You can't pretend that other people do that, the people have
childrens, wives, mortgages... and work in exchange of money to pay their
bills. Sometimes you have a bussiness plan that lets you to give away
your work and get money from other sources, sometimes you need to put a
price or close the shop.

Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Feb 12, 2003 14:14 UTC (Wed) by Webexcess (guest, #197) [Link] (3 responses)

Do you work for nothing? Do you give all your time to other in exchange of nothing?

I think you're oversimplifying a bit. The excellent writing at lwn.net is both its product and its advertising. How will potential subscribers be enticed if they can't see what lwn.net has to offer?

Also, the target audience largely consists of enthusiasts, many of whom are students and/or live in parts of the world where american dollars are very expensive. These are the same people that helped to build Linux into what it is today -- are you suggesting that they should be excluded?

Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Feb 12, 2003 15:27 UTC (Wed) by bruno (subscriber, #4387) [Link] (2 responses)

The excellent writing at lwn.net is only possible if there are someone that
works in it full time. I think is wonderfull if someone can (and want) to
work full time in something and give it away for nothing, but I don't think
that you can say to someone "You MUST give your work for free", at the end
of the day, with your work you have the right to make whatever you want:
Give if for free, sell, rent, lease or burn it, is your work and your
decision.

If KotH really thinks that is important that this information be free, he can
study the linux kernel, write a book and put it on the web for free, instead
of criticise the actitude of lwn.net

Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Feb 12, 2003 17:17 UTC (Wed) by rknop (guest, #66) [Link]

"You MUST give your work for free"... If KotH really thinks that is important that this information be free,

Be fair. That's not what KotH said. He said he thought it was in LWN.net's best interest to do what they've done, because of their good reputation in the community. He's not insisting that they must do what they've done, he's just congratulating them and saying he understands why they might think it's a good idea to do that.

-Rob

Re: Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Feb 12, 2003 19:52 UTC (Wed) by Ross (guest, #4065) [Link]

Bruno,

I think you are mischaracterizing what other people are saying. Using the device driver documentation as an advertisement was only a suggestion. We all recognize that LWN can decide what to release and when to release it. You're point is also only a suggestion. If Jonathan felt he needed to say something, I'm sure he would. You don't need to speak for him.

Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted May 8, 2003 17:05 UTC (Thu) by LogicG8 (guest, #11076) [Link] (1 responses)

I would just like to say that the release of this material prompted
me to purchase a subscription. It is a delicate balance providing
open content and providing incentive to readers to subscribe. I think
that LWN has done a great job and will continue to do so in the future.

Releasing quality content for free has nabbed at least one
subscriber.

Porting device drivers to the 2.5 kernel

Posted Dec 14, 2004 14:06 UTC (Tue) by arafel (subscriber, #18557) [Link]

Make that two...