> BTW: I'm also satisfied with binary-only drivers, but as read in this
> thread, some guys would not be satisfied with this, too, what I myself
> can't understand.
> 
> Linux, FreeBSD and I believe the other BSDs, too, have invested much
> work in a reliable kernel-module framework, which is perfect for
> third-party drivers. 
> 
> But binary-only or open-source, the question was to convince Phillips
> (and other vendors), that the OS-community is big enough to invest in 
> OS-OSs (hehe, OpenSource-Operating-Systems :-)), 

No, the question was to get an open-source driver. According to the
original mail, a binary driver under NDA already exists. To quote:

   Here we make amongst other thing USB webcams. For these there is an
   excelent linux driver, but the author had to sign an NDA in order to get
   the specifications of the communication protocol. I have been trying to
   convince people here to drop at least part of the NDA so that an open
   source driver will be possible. So far the answer has been no.

The concern for most of the posters was to encourage companies to release
opensource drivers.

Rahul.