Via Technologies, although very popular with Linux ultramobile PC vendors, has never been very open about its own hardware. Until April 8, when, at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit in Austin, Texas, the company announced that it will start opening up its chipsets to the open source community.

During the We're Shipping Linux on PCs — Now What? panel, held at the University of Texas Super Computing Center, Timothy Chen of Via Technologies, said, “Via hadn't been doing much [in opening up] — it's been hard for the company to embrace open source, but at the end of the month you'll see us opening up.”

This announcement drew a round of applause from the audience of Linux executives, leaders and core developers. Driver support for Linux distributions, a nagging problem, can be greatly eased by chip and component vendors opening up their hardware specifications and information.

In concrete terms, Via will kick things off by launching its Via Linux Web site by the end of month. On this site, users will find drivers, technical documentation, source code and information for the Via CN700, CX700/M, CN896 and the new Via VX800 chipsets. As time goes by, Via will add forums and support for more of its chipsets.

Via hopes that by doing this and working with the community, it will be able to create drivers for Via Processor Platforms that will enable top-notch 2-D, 3-D and video playback. The company will also start issuing regular quarterly releases, which will be in conjunction with kernel changes and major Linux distribution releases. In addition, beta releases will be issued on the site as needed, and a bug report and tracking feature will also be integrated.

“This announcement is the first step in the implementation of our new initiative to better serve the needs of the open-source community,” said Richard Brown, vice president of corporate marketing at Via, in a statement. “We are strongly committed to improving the levels of collaboration with the community and adopting a more consistent approach across Via Processor Platform technologies.”

How sure is Chen that VIA and the Linux desktop are going to take off? During the panel, Chen said that he's made a bet and that “if Linux doesn't take 10 percent of the desktop market share in five years I'll be running the streets of Munich naked.”

—Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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