"Hardware companies shouldn't depend on software implementations
to make their products competitive, nor should they have to worry
about the Linux kernel internals, he explained. Rather, "they
should just make the best hardware they can make and tell everybody
else how to use it (as in, release the specs so Linux drivers can
be written by Linux programmers)."
"For "userland" applications, however, the question is much less
critical -- "mostly because it is easier to switch to an
alternative," Mhall119 said."