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Xref: sserve comp.unix.sysv386:23290 comp.windows.x:44669 comp.os.linux:9143 comp.unix.bsd:4504 comp.os.mach:2048 comp.graphics:19550 comp.sys.ibm.pc:20930 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:30423 Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!ogicse!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnewsk!cbnewsj!dwex From: dwex@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (david.e.wexelblat) Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.windows.x,comp.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach,comp.graphics,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Free software and the future of support for Diamond products Keywords: Diamond, free-software Message-ID: <1992Sep3.162413.19770@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> Date: 3 Sep 92 16:24:13 GMT Article-I.D.: cbnewsj.1992Sep3.162413.19770 Followup-To: comp.unix.sysv386 Organization: AT&T Lines: 72 [ This is a personal statement and does not represent any position being taken by my employer. My affiliation is only listed so that those who wish to reply to this statement may do so. ] Diamond, makers of the SpeedStar and Stealth series of SVGA cards, have developed a new hardware technology for video dot-clock selection. The current boards that have this new technology are the SpeedStar 24, the SpeedStar 24X, and the Steath boards. Diamond considers this hardware technology proprietary, and feel that giving out information on how to program this hardware will yield a competetive advantage to their competitors. This position makes it impossible to support these boards on operating systems that do not use the BIOS (e.g. Unix), unless one is willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Diamond. Obviously, this is impossible for software for which the source code is freely available. In particular, these newer Diamond boards will not be supported by the free X Window System packages (in particular XFree86, previously known as X386 1.2E) that are available for a number of x86 operating systems (SVR3, SVR4, 386BSD, Mach386, Linux). There are commercial packages that do support these boards. It is the contention of the authors of XFree86, the free enhancement package for X11R5 on x86, that Diamond is will be losing customers based on this policy. We are aware that many people will only buy boards that work with this software, and that there are boards available from Diamond's competitors that fill this need. We are also certain that there are other software packages that fall into the same category. We have been in contact with a representative of Diamond about this policy. He indicated to me that there are currently no plans to change the proprietary nature of this information, but they are willing to hear our arguments for such a change. To that end, we would like to collect some statistics that we can give to Diamond. We have set up a mail drop to collect this information. If you have not bought, will not in the future buy, or have in fact returned Diamond hardware because of this policy, please send a short note to <diamond@physics.su.oz.au> Any mail sent to this address will be deposited in a file, and will only be looked at occasionally, so don't expect a reply. If you want a reply on this issue, mail to <xfree86@physics.su.oz.au>. Please indicate the amount to Diamond product impacted by your decision (e.g. if you are a VAR, an estimate of the number of systems shipped per month that will not contain Diamond boards will be useful). We do not know what impact, if any, this data will have on Diamond. As long as this policy remains in effect, XFree86 will not support new Diamond products. We choose to make this stand for reasons of liability avoidance. So if someone publishes the technical information required, we will not use it, nor will we accept code that uses it, until we know that Diamond's policy has changed. Be aware that if you disassemble their BIOS, you are risking a lawsuit. We will not assume that liability, so don't even ask! The XFree86 Core Team: David Dawes <dawes@physics.su.oz.au Glenn Lai <glenn@cs.utexas.edu> Jim Tsillas <jtsilla@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu> David Wexelblat <dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com> Mail drop for Diamond sales loss data: diamond@physics.su.oz.au To contact the Core Team: xfree86@physics.su.oz.au -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- David Wexelblat | dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com | Somebody get me a AT&T Bell Laboratories | ...!att!mtgzfs3!dwex | cheeseburger! 200 Laurel Ave - 4B-421 | | Middletown, NJ 07748 | (908) 957-5871 | --Steve Miller Band