[ Thanks to Kevin
Postlewaite for this link. ]
“3Dfx Interactive Inc. said Tuesday (Sept. 14) that it plans to
give away its texture-compression algorithms, becoming the latest
company to try out open-source licensing. By freeing up the code,
3Dfx hopes to accelerate its adoption and possibly glean ideas for
future releases.”
“In a sense, 3Dfx Interactive is giving up ownership of its FXT1
compression technology, said product manager Erik Johnson.
Licensees will owe no royalties to 3Dfx and will retain
ownership of any alterations they make in the code. None of the
changes have to be shared with or shown to 3Dfx, although the
company hopes its licensees will submit changes and improvements to
the code.“
“We want to see adoption of the technology,” Johnson said.
“We’re also looking for feedback. We’ve got a lot of big brains out
there who can hopefully tell us thing we haven’t thought of.”