We carefully reviewed the project you shared with us (https://github.com/linuxwacom/wacom-hid-descriptors). While we appreciate the initiative, we found that this is primarily a Wacom-led project, and the potential impact for GAOMON would be quite limited. Even if we added support for our devices, the system would still show the device as a GAOMON model, but the overall setup would display Wacom branding. More importantly, participating would require sharing our device specifications directly with Wacom – which is not something we can consider.
The last part of that reply is very wrong.
The article also has a reply from Peter Hutterer, a “senior software engineer at Red Hat and a maintainer of Linux’s core input device handling infrastructure since decades”, which is worth reading.
Not to dunk on his achievements, but his argument is basically that it doesn’t matter because the end user doesn’t see any libwacom branding.
However, when they upgrade their package, it will show the Wacom name. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to rename the project to something which is more descriptive, especially since it contains way more than Wacom code.
I can understand both sides. I also think that you shouldn’t bow to corporate interests in general, for example to marketing departments of any company.
However by keeping the Wacom name you’re basically giving them special treatment just because they came first. Vendor neutral projects should be named vendor-neutrally, IMHO.
Have had a small cheap wacom bamboo for more than 10 years. Not only the device works great in itself and it’s quite sturdy but its support on Linux has always been stellar. Absolutely no complaints whatsoever.
The company’s reason is “brand protection”:
The last part of that reply is very wrong.
The article also has a reply from Peter Hutterer, a “senior software engineer at Red Hat and a maintainer of Linux’s core input device handling infrastructure since decades”, which is worth reading.
Not to dunk on his achievements, but his argument is basically that it doesn’t matter because the end user doesn’t see any libwacom branding.
However, when they upgrade their package, it will show the Wacom name. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to rename the project to something which is more descriptive, especially since it contains way more than Wacom code.
I can understand both sides. I also think that you shouldn’t bow to corporate interests in general, for example to marketing departments of any company.
However by keeping the Wacom name you’re basically giving them special treatment just because they came first. Vendor neutral projects should be named vendor-neutrally, IMHO.
It makes me only look at Wacom, because of their strong Linux support, so probably not great for the other companies.
Have had a small cheap wacom bamboo for more than 10 years. Not only the device works great in itself and it’s quite sturdy but its support on Linux has always been stellar. Absolutely no complaints whatsoever.
this. they are shooting themselves in the foot.