Traditionally, graphics cards manufacturers were wary to reveal the source code for the drivers with their GPUs. According to researcher Jon Peddie, the information contained within these drivers’ source are “family jewels”, and likely contain information about how the chips themselves work. ATI doesn’t want NVIDIA knowing these secrets, and vice versa. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that Intel has just recently open sourced its software that lets Linux users fully control the interopterability between their system and Intel’s new 965 Express Chipset. 
This isn’t the first time Intel has open sourced software about its chipset, including other graphics processors. In fact, it has been releasing open source versions of its drivers in collaboration with Tungsten since its i810 processor. However, the move is important, since Intel’s 965 chipset would be the first chipset that works with Linux capable of producing high powered 3D graphics, with features such as OpenGL vertex shading, and hardware transform and lighting The goal of Intel’s open-sourcing move was to bring more Linux users to purchase the hardware. According to Dirk Hohndel, the chieft technologist with Intel’s Open Source Technology Center, "Having open-source drivers gives us a big edge in this market”. Before, most Linux users only had very limited options when choosing how to interface with their graphics cards. They could use proprietary (private, un-open sourced) software drivers to interface with their GPUs. However, this practice is all but banned by the Gnu General Public License (GPL), the open source standard in the Linux community, making it very difficult – both practically and ethically – for kernel developers to support it. As a result, more than a few Linux systems do not support proprietary drivers. Without proprietary licensing, Linux users could utilize user created drivers. Although good, they often aren’t great: they usually have major flaws or bugs, mostly stemming from the fact that the users who create the software do not have complete knowledge of the hardware and operability of the graphics cards, since much of that information is being kept secret. Intel’s open sourcing move will likely make its chipsets popular in the Linux graphics community. It will finally mean that they can use the real driver code to interface with their GPUs without worrying that some no-knowledge programmer accidentally left dangerous bugs or holes in the code, or that their kernel would not be supporting proprietary drivers in the next release (as Novell recently did). How this will make Intel’s two major graphic rivals react is unclear. Both NVIDIA and ATI have released statements on Intel’s move. NVIDIA made it clear that “at this time” they see no need to move to open source, but they might consider it later. ATI will probably be taking this a lot more seriously, though. Having been recently acquired by AMD, Intel’s Silicon Valley arch-rival, ATI will be looking closely into ways it can stay ahead of Intel. This might mean that soon, both Intel and ATI GPUs will be fully open sourced and available on Linux machines. This will hopefully make 3D DCC applications, as well as high powered 3D games, available to run well on the Linux platform. Hopefully it will, since Linux offers many benefits to the Windows or Mac operating systems that stem from its open-source nature (one being that it can be free!). Of course, only time will tell. If Intel chipsets are the only ones to have their drivers open sourced, it may not be enough for game designers and DCC companies to make the move.
This isn’t the first time Intel has open sourced software about its chipset, including other graphics processors. In fact, it has been releasing open source versions of its drivers in collaboration with Tungsten since its i810 processor. However, the move is important, since Intel’s 965 chipset would be the first chipset that works with Linux capable of producing high powered 3D graphics, with features such as OpenGL vertex shading, and hardware transform and lighting The goal of Intel’s open-sourcing move was to bring more Linux users to purchase the hardware. According to Dirk Hohndel, the chieft technologist with Intel’s Open Source Technology Center, "Having open-source drivers gives us a big edge in this market”. Before, most Linux users only had very limited options when choosing how to interface with their graphics cards. They could use proprietary (private, un-open sourced) software drivers to interface with their GPUs. However, this practice is all but banned by the Gnu General Public License (GPL), the open source standard in the Linux community, making it very difficult – both practically and ethically – for kernel developers to support it. As a result, more than a few Linux systems do not support proprietary drivers. Without proprietary licensing, Linux users could utilize user created drivers. Although good, they often aren’t great: they usually have major flaws or bugs, mostly stemming from the fact that the users who create the software do not have complete knowledge of the hardware and operability of the graphics cards, since much of that information is being kept secret. Intel’s open sourcing move will likely make its chipsets popular in the Linux graphics community. It will finally mean that they can use the real driver code to interface with their GPUs without worrying that some no-knowledge programmer accidentally left dangerous bugs or holes in the code, or that their kernel would not be supporting proprietary drivers in the next release (as Novell recently did). How this will make Intel’s two major graphic rivals react is unclear. Both NVIDIA and ATI have released statements on Intel’s move. NVIDIA made it clear that “at this time” they see no need to move to open source, but they might consider it later. ATI will probably be taking this a lot more seriously, though. Having been recently acquired by AMD, Intel’s Silicon Valley arch-rival, ATI will be looking closely into ways it can stay ahead of Intel. This might mean that soon, both Intel and ATI GPUs will be fully open sourced and available on Linux machines. This will hopefully make 3D DCC applications, as well as high powered 3D games, available to run well on the Linux platform. Hopefully it will, since Linux offers many benefits to the Windows or Mac operating systems that stem from its open-source nature (one being that it can be free!). Of course, only time will tell. If Intel chipsets are the only ones to have their drivers open sourced, it may not be enough for game designers and DCC companies to make the move.
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