are you ready, boots? get walking! (or, cracking the free software desktop hardware nut)

so it's finally official, intel is actually pushing out open source graphics drivers for their latest and greatest chipset. the project site is here and you can read keith's announcement here.
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after hearing about this initiative at a conference during conversations with zack rusin and keith i got very excited and could hardly contain myself from talking about it all over the place. i did try to exercise some restraint, though, until it was actually official. and now it is.

why is this so important? intel is providing free and open source software drivers for their new chipsets as they become available. none of the usual "linux lag". and unlike some other vendors, this isn't a "minimal support to get the hardware moving" type driver. this is everything the chipset supports, including 3d gizmos. and since this is happening from within intel, the drivers have man power behind them and they are working off of actual, honest-to-god specs.

beyond the obvious goodness this means for people who will pick up a system with a 965 in it and beyond delivering a set of open drivers that exposes the power of the hardware for us to use fully on the free software desktop, it may also be the tipping point for desktop hardware in general.

if by these actions, intel demonstrates to the industry at large that it's economical to develop this way, that it translates into healthy sales and that it doesn't result in the mythical "hardware intellectual property missapropriation through access to code" doomsday scenario ...... maybe other hardware vendors will start to think similarly.

if the industry gets the sense that intel figures the free software desktop is worth investing in like this, maybe those other companies will start wondering if they aren't missing out too and start writing drivers. and that will only help bring more users over to open source desktops.

if intel's graphics chipset competitors who aren't doing this start to lose market share because of this move, then perhaps they'll play ball too.

in short, we all ought to reward intel (and everyone else who follows suit) for this move by opting for such open source supporting hardware on our desktops and laptops whenever possible. this will help create the positive feedback loop needed to keep things like this going.

i purchased my current laptop specifically because it had an intel grahpics chipset after first hearing about this move. it's may only have been one small purchase in the bigger scheme of things, but a million sets of feet moving to the same rhythm creates a drumbeat that is hard to ignore.