IBM giving away free access of 500 of their patents for the Open Source Community...

IBM is serious about its contributions to the Open Source development.

Here's the link

With this, imagine all the drivers that'll be available for our use soon.

Not everyone is pleased about it, ZDNet has an article that suggests that IBM are hypocrites coz they are actively promoting patents in Europe whilst on the other hand they want to be seen as the champions of opensource. The story is here.

I don't know that this decision will result in a flood of new drivers. Probably the most obvious area where improved drivers would make an impact would be in video cards, but any efforts to develop open-source drivers for them would require cooperation from their manufacturers (meaning ATI and nVidia, etc). In other words, Yes, IBM's decision will (or at least should) have a positive effect on OS projects that are working with their products, but it's less clear that it would have a spill over effect with other manufacturers. Still, I consider IBM's move to be a good one. Just my 2 cents -- J.W.