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aysiu
July 11th, 2008, 08:16 PM
I see a lot of online petitions here on the forums. Here are some examples:
Another silly adobe/macromedia petition (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=67636)
Petition: WoW for Linux (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=82661)
Online Linux Gaming Developers Petition - Please Sign! (and make Sticky) (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=442357)
Petition for Linux Support of LOTRO by Turbine (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=481730)
Please Linux gamers. Sign this, and maybe get games for linux. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=457999)
Petition - iTunes for Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=432151)
Petition to MS to don't support 32 bits on Windows 7 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=714052)
Nvidia open it up!! (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=856522)
Bilizzard Petition (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=733060)
Petition to Adobe to port CS to Linux (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=784474)
StarCraft 2 Native Linux Petition (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=480745)
The iTunes Linux Project (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=780995)

Do these online petitions ever do anything? Do companies ever listen to petitions, let alone online ones?

I'm trying to imagine I'm an executive at a company like Adobe, Nvidia, or Apple, and I get an online petition from some Linux users saying "Please port your software" or "Please open source your drivers." Why would I care? Is it going to make my company more profitable? How would I make the case to my superiors that it was a project worth undertaking?

What do you all think?

Have you seen online petitions that have worked? If not, have you seen other channels that are more effective?

perlluver
July 11th, 2008, 08:19 PM
I believe if Nvidia opened up there source, then it would be profitable. More people would use Nvidia cards in Linux, because they know that the card will work with no problems. AMD opened up the source for ATI cards, so Nvidia should open there's up too.

cardinals_fan
July 11th, 2008, 08:22 PM
Only if a truly huge number of people sign it.

Superkoop
July 11th, 2008, 08:27 PM
I think they work just as well as any other medium, i.e. emails.
The primary purpose for them, is to let the corporations know what the people want, without spending time writing an email which I am sure get deleted right away.
I don't think they work, but I sign them anyways.

aysiu
July 11th, 2008, 08:35 PM
I believe if Nvidia opened up there source, then it would be profitable. More people would use Nvidia cards in Linux, because they know that the card will work with no problems. I don't know that that's true. How many Linux users avoid Nvidia cards because the drivers are closed source? I'm not saying such users are non-existent. I just can't imagine they'd be so large in number as to make a significant financial impact for Nvidia.

Only about 5% of regular forum members have RMS-would-be-proud Ubuntu installations (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=95718). The percentage might be even lower if you count those who do not frequently answer polls (the install-solve-my-problems-and-go types).


I think they work just as well as any other medium, i.e. emails.
The primary purpose for them, is to let the corporations know what the people want, without spending time writing an email which I am sure get deleted right away. But unless the email says "I'm not going to buy your products until they're open source (or ported to Linux). Instead I will be buying products from your competitor," the email is also useless.

LaRoza
July 11th, 2008, 08:54 PM
I don't think petitions are effective by themselves, but companies will listen to the market and a big petition or online discussions on the subject will result in some changes. Look at ATI for example. Not sure exactly what they did that, but I bet it had something to do with the widespread dissatisfaction with their lack of support.

Canis familiaris
July 11th, 2008, 08:57 PM
Sadly petitions do not work. But I still sign in them.
As for opening up of nVidia drivers, just wait till ATi roll in working open source drivers for their major cards(which I believe they'll do in a years time) and see how ATi sales would surpass nVidia, at least in realms of Linux and BSD users.

Canis familiaris
July 11th, 2008, 08:58 PM
Not sure exactly what they did that, but I bet it had something to do with the widespread dissatisfaction with their lack of support.
They did because they were no longer ATI, they became ATI-AMD. And AMD was smart enough to sense widespread dissatisfaction.

VitaLiNux
July 11th, 2008, 09:09 PM
Only if a truly huge number of people sign it.

I wouldn't say it better!=D>

LaRoza
July 11th, 2008, 09:15 PM
They did because they were no longer ATI, they became ATI-AMD. And AMD was smart enough to sense widespread dissatisfaction.

Yes, that is what I said. They knew there was dissatisfaction, but I am sure no one petition did it, although it could have contributed.

FyreBrand
July 11th, 2008, 09:15 PM
I think petitions can be potentially effective if the company is open to the idea. Let's take the Dell example. Many people petitioned them for pre-installed Ubuntu. I think if the response was dismal they wouldn't have considered it. The fact that they were open to a pre-installed Linux version already is what made the petition effective.

Overall though I don't think petitions are effective. What business incentive does nvdia have to open their drivers? I don't really see any incentive for them to do that.

LaRoza
July 11th, 2008, 09:18 PM
What business incentive does nvdia have to open their drivers? I don't really see any incentive for them to do that.

They don't need to spend money doing things people will do for free.

Canis familiaris
July 11th, 2008, 09:23 PM
I know Open Sourcing of drivers helps Linux and BSD. But will it help Windows or Mac users?
I think it does help.
Tell me if I am wrong.
But that almost warrants that nVidia will have to eventually open source their drivers, because then ATI will simply hammer them.

FyreBrand
July 11th, 2008, 09:38 PM
They don't need to spend money doing things people will do for free.It's very possible that is true. It could be that people, and more likely project/business developers, would submit patches and modules that would reduce nvidia's development load. It's also possible, since gpu driver code is complicated on the level of a mini-os, they would be exposing some of their development resources to competition with no return for that. In other words they would be giving away their hard work to AMD/ATI and Intel, among others, for free with nothing in return.

LaRoza
July 11th, 2008, 09:49 PM
It's very possible that is true. It could be that people, and more likely project/business developers, would submit patches and modules that would reduce nvidia's development load. It's also possible, since gpu driver code is complicated on the level of a mini-os, they would be exposing some of their development resources to competition with no return for that. In other words they would be giving away their hard work to AMD/ATI and Intel, among others, for free with nothing in return.

In reality, the time it would take to reverse engineer the code to find out how it works wouldn't be worth it.

They know this.

aysiu
July 11th, 2008, 09:50 PM
I don't know anything about programming. How useful would it be to see the code of drivers for competing hardware? Surely the same code wouldn't work for ATI/AMD and Intel, too, would it?

LaRoza
July 11th, 2008, 09:50 PM
I don't know anything about programming. How useful would it be to see the code of drivers for competing hardware? Surely the same code wouldn't work for ATI/AMD and Intel, too, would it?

No, it wouldn't help. It could help figure out how it works but would take way longer than it would be useful.

DeadSuperHero
July 11th, 2008, 09:54 PM
I can only think of one petition that really did anything, and that was the petition for LucasArts to continue the Sam and Max series. Did they? No, but they handed off the rights to a developer, and now the Sam and Max games are pretty well-known to anyone that's ever used Gametap.

zmjjmz
July 11th, 2008, 10:12 PM
Nah, but I sign them anyways.

Elfy
July 11th, 2008, 10:37 PM
Nah, but I sign them anyways.
+1

I don't think that many large companies are likely to take much notice of an online poll unless there are very large numbers involved. Why should they? The only thing that's likely to change their minds is a change in their bottom line.

That said - if we say - "that'll never work" then it has even less of a chance of doing so. Which is why I do - it doesn't cost me anything to do so other than a few minutes of my time.

geoken
July 11th, 2008, 11:47 PM
The recent iPhone plan price petition to regers seemed to be succesfull. I think around 60k people signed a petition saying they wouldn't buy an iPhone if rogers didn't lower their data plans. The MSM took notice and reported the story, which resulted in Apple trying to play the "good guy" card and diverting iPhones away from Canada and refusing to sell iPhones in Canadian Apple stores.

All this heat made rogers reduce the price of their 6gb plan from $115 to $30 just days before the iPhone was released.

fluteflute
July 12th, 2008, 07:23 AM
The iPlayer petition (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/iplayer/) was successful although it could be argued the BBC would have done this eventually I think the petition sped things up massively.