Conclusion

John's answers paint a picture of a company that's doing its best to keep pace with promises and expectations in a space where the competition has a huge foothold in providing better solutions to myriad problems.  That situation instantly magnifies anything AMD does in terms of its Linux support, but it's one the company seems to be relishing, if a little quieter than we'd have liked since the announcements earlier this year.

There is no question that 2007 will go down as a watershed year in the relationship of ATI Radeon products to Linux and the Open Source community. What could not inaccurately be described as grudging support of the platform and Open Source idea by the old ATI has now blossomed into a genuine interest and commitment since the merger with AMD.  It is also clear that it was indeed Big Daddy who provided the attitude adjustment (and, more importantly, resources and prioritisation) to make it possible. That such a shift should occur in 2007, at the very same time that members of driver teams from one end of the PC world to the other are groaning the word "Vista" in their sleep every night, is even more remarkable.

However, there are still mountains to climb, paradigms to finish their shifting, and dust to settle. Not to mention a goodly amount of old fashioned work to complete by AMD's driver team. What seemed to be a claim of a goal of parity between Windows and Linux drivers in January of the year looks now to be a bit more cautious and exploratory of just how desirable and/or practical that goal is on two different platforms.  And while we very much appreciate AMD's vow to make the gap between Windows and Linux driver releases for new generations "significantly smaller" than it has been in the past, what we'd really like to see them shoot for is simultaneous release --or something so close to it as to be negligible in its impact on Linux enthusiasts. And of course we look forward eagerly to seeing how the reality of AMD's participation on the Open Source side continues to develop into 2008.

We thank AMD, John, and all the guys and gals in the ATI Radeon driver team for their time, and wish them "good luck and God speed" on their way to providing the Linux and Open Source support that we are confident they are capable of and which the community will welcome with Open arms.

3D graphics on non-Windows platforms is something we've traditionally ignored, but with Beyond3D's Editor now actively using accelerated 3D on Linux as part of his day job, it's something we'll endeavour to talk more about in the future.  Here's hoping John will join us again for that.  Finally, we note that John ducked a question of ours about OpenGL 3 and their timeline for a non-Windows driver.  We'll be nice and at least let OpenGL 3 sort its spec out before we ask them to commit to something again.  Stay tuned.

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