My guess is that it includes some stuff that Intel wants to keep a trade secret, but that stuff would be revealed in open source drivers.

Basically it means they can keep some of the technologies secret without being liable for managing linux drivers.
Intel is traditionally very good at making their chips linux friendly, so it's good that they are explicit from the get go about this, instead of the OSS community getting a rude surprise when they start working on running linux on it.

bobafetthotmail said:

meh, reverse engineering stuff is pretty fun for Linux devs. Unless it's a really alien setup, they will figure it out and adapt even if Intel isn't cooperating.

That's the thing. This way Intel doesn't have to devote resources to Linux support or be liable, especially if they can't make their drivers open source.

It may be dissapointing, but the linux people just need to poach some developers from Cyagonmod.

I think this is a huge mistake on intel's part. To ignore Linux, bsd, and any other open platform is a mistake plain and simple. I for one enjoy the fact that there are groups devoted to the advancement of technologies that take full advantage of the hardware available. Sad that these developers will most likely never get the recognition they deserve, but they will have a firm follower in me and I hope many others will follow suit. O

Over the years I've installed Linux on all sorts of devices it was never meant to be installed on (Satellite & Cable boxes, games consoles etc) I dont think Intel not supporting it will stop the Linux guys putting it on there.