video cards

[Luke -Jr]

On Tuesday 08 April 2008, you wrote:
> Consider wall-socket 110 volt 60hz electricity.  A lamp is not
> an elaboration of the wall-socket.  It could get what it gets from
> the wall-socket from some other system.  A three-prong grounded
> wall socket, however, /IS/ a derivative work of a two-pronger.

Is the plug fitting the 100% custom and undocumented wall socket not a derived 
work of that same wall socket? Even if there is a division between the cord 
and the device, the cord itself would be "GPL"d and the GPL forbids it to 
link with the device.

> By crafting glue between the Linux modular interface and their hardware,
> they are not creating a derivative work, any more than snipping off one kind
> of power plug and attaching another in order to power a floor lamp somewhere
> that has different kinds of power outlets is.

If the user created the wrapper himself, everything would indeed be clean.

> your question -- how is this thing that is different from this other thing
> different from it -- could be turned around.  How are they the same?

Linux has code for dealing with video cards. The nVidia driver just elaborates 
on the specific method of dealing with an nVidia video card. That is, they 
are exactly the same.

> How /IS/ a plug-in an elaboration?  I think it clearly is not one.

If the plug-in interface is abstracted enough, you might have an argument, but 
in the case of the nVidia driver itself, it merely elaborates on the Linux 
code that manages video cards.