Debian User Forums

The Hardware Manufacturers like Micro Processors, Wifi, Gaming Devices and others, should open source their closed source drivers after 1 to 3 years. It wouldnt really matter, as they would have had a cutting edge over their competitors already, and they have made their profits.

... and most probably, by this time, their devices can better run on the next linux and debian. It may also benefit the linux development.

Just a thought.

sometimes they do.

some of them even open-source current drivers, because they realize it is rather going to INcrease hardware sales than DEcrease.

I hope this "some" and "sometimes" gets to "nearly all".

Any examples of companies that indeed do this? I'm intrigued

@IzayoiFlandre: Perhaps:
https://opensource.com/business/16/6/7- ... s-software

Big companies cater to the whims of their biggest customers. A few individuals running Linux on their home machines don't register at all on a corporate to-do list.

i think they simply make the calculation
1. how much will it cost us to open-source all or part of our code (probably next to nothing)
2. how much are we likely to gain from it

if 2. is larger than 1., they'll do it.
and since the number of linux users has grown, in the last 1.5 decades, from "infinitesimally small" to "slightly more than infinitesimally small", the chances of 2. being larger than 1. have also grown.

there's nothing idealistic about it.