> CUDA, their RTX crap, Gsync, Physx, Nvidia "Gameworks"
Do you have similar issues with the vast majority of software companies out there that don't open source their product?
Whether it's Microsoft, SAS, Wolfram Research or Adobe. Synposys, Autodesk, or Blizzard or any mom-and-pop software company that solves some niche problem. It's all closed source and "anti-competitive".
Are they just as monopolist, exploitative and user-hostile?
If not, what's the difference? Just the fact that they sell hardware along with their software?
Proprietary drivers are the worst kind of propreitary software. If the vendor goes bankrupt or simply chooses to stop supporting your product, you have no path forward to update your operating system. Why use a Canon printer when HP has open source drivers? Why use Nvidia when AMD has drivers in the kernel that will never be removed. Old Nvidia cards like a GTX 8800 have only poor reverse engineered support on recent kernels. By contrast, if Microsoft abandons Word, I could easily get it working with Virtualization or possibly through shims like Wine. Nvidia knows that there stance is problematic, and for the embedded auto industry they actually support the open source drivers for their Tegra hardware.
> Why use Nvidia when AMD has drivers in the kernel that will never be removed.
It's perfectly reasonable to be concerned about a vendor going bankrupt and choosing not to support their product. If that's the issue, just don't buy their products.
If one thinks that CUDA functionality is really that important, then isn't that proof that it's valuable IP? Nobody should be forced to open up valuable IP. I don't think it's reasonable to call somebody scum of the earth because they value and don't want to give away what they created.
Do you have similar issues with the vast majority of software companies out there that don't open source their product?
Whether it's Microsoft, SAS, Wolfram Research or Adobe. Synposys, Autodesk, or Blizzard or any mom-and-pop software company that solves some niche problem. It's all closed source and "anti-competitive".
Are they just as monopolist, exploitative and user-hostile?
If not, what's the difference? Just the fact that they sell hardware along with their software?