Number 2: OpenAL may work great on WINDOWS with CREATIVE cards, but for everything else (especially under Linux) is it really none sense. Linux is my main platform, so I care most for that case. Creative created OpenAL and only work on the parts where the money (or should I say: vendor-lock-in) is, and that's supporting their own cards under Windows.
Under Linux you are not using ( with high probability - depending of which distribution you are using ) the original Creative implementation :
http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libopenal1http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.htmlAnyway there are some optimization u can do on linux to have openal running better ... ( eg ... I think that the version included in the distribution , due to standard compilation flags , does NOT use SSE or SSE2 instructions )
U can't do miracles , but u can reach a bit higher acceptable compromise .