New call for open source device drivers

Perhaps nothing has kept Linux from desktop success more than a lack of open source device drivers.

So it should be no surprise that the Linux Foundation has renewed its call for open source device drivers.

The call comes complete with a whitepaper on the Linux driver market, a Q&A on the issue, and an essay by technical board chair James Bottomley on Linux graphics. The Q&A notes the foundation is making no legal claims in its statement.

The kernel developers also released a statement calling any closed-source Linux kernel module "harmful and undesirable," an effort at proprietary lock-in, but again no legal claims were made.

So a call to all active Linux developers. Have you had to deal with closed source Linux modules, and how has it hurt you?