Near the beginning of April, VIA announced its plans to begin offering open-source drivers for Linux and documentation for their devices. Just recently, VIA launced the new site, but, unfortunately, it has only two drivers and those are only in binary form (no source code or documentation.) In response to this, Phoronix published an article asking if VIA’s announcement was just a bluff, pointing out these issues and quoting open-source developers who have found VIA unresponsive in the past.

While the Phoronix article’s prediction that VIA is only bluffing could turn out to be correct, it is far too soon to criticize VIA. They made a step in the right direction, and, even if they did not go as far as they said they would, they should not be attacked for that. If every company that tries to support Linux is criticized and dismissed if they don’t meet every deadline, no one will want to help the Linux community. Cut VIA some slack.

This is not to say that VIA should never be criticized just because they put out two binary drivers. If VIA does not release more in a few weeks, then criticism makes sense. Just be careful not to attack VIA for missing the first deadline.

Also, I am not trying to say that Phoronix was wrong in publishing the article. Although waiting a few more days might have been reasonable, there is nothing wrong with raising the question of a bluff. I just hope that no one takes the Phoronix article the wrong way and starts attacking VIA. That, I believe, is not yet called for.