As asked on the debian-curiosa list, what effect will the AMD ATI merger have for the Linux community?

Will AMD realize that Intel has a lead in the Linux field because of them making e.g. specifications for their graphics products available? Will AMD counter this by having ATI release some specifications to the community? (Or at least allowing the distribution of the already-written r500 2D graphics driver held back by a NDA? Apparently they havn’t yet made up their mind after 4 months now…)

As for me, I’m currently planning to buy my next Laptop with Intel graphics (and thus Intel CPU, I guess) because of the better driver support. (My current laptops ATI Mobility card is not supported by ATI…)