Linux graphics, why sharing code with Windows isn't always a win.
A recent article on phoronix has some commentary about sharing code between Windows and Linux, and how this seems to be a metric that Intel likes. I'd like to explore this idea a bit and explain why I believe it's bad for Linux based distros and our open source development models in the graphics area. tl;dr there is a big difference between open source released and open source developed projects in terms of sustainability and community. The Linux graphics stack from a distro vendor point of view is made up of two main projects, the Linux kernel and Mesa userspace. These two projects are developed in the open with completely open source vendor agnostic practices. There is no vendor controlling either project and both projects have a goal of try to maximise shared code and shared processes/coding standards across drivers from all vendors. This cross-vendor synergy is very important to the functioning ecosystem that is the Linux graphics stack. The stack also relies in some place