Maxime Bizon [off-list ref] writes:

but from my POV, your pattern is: build new chipset, obsolete previous
chipset, fork current firmware, make uncompatible changes to both
firmware & host driver to accomodate new chipset peculiarities.

and eventually, if a customer requests a mainline linux driver, then
write one... this is what I'd call "dumping"

BTW, this is exactly what I meant with "dumping" as well. Having
multiple drivers with similar functionality is difficult for everyone.
Creating a new driver with new bugs is much worse than making smaller,
incremental changes to the existing driver. And of course code sharing
is always preferred, but not a hard requirement for drivers.

-- 
Kalle Valo