Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!newshost.nla.gov.au!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!news.tamu.edu!root From: root@marsgrp.tamu.edu (root) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Why to not buy Matrox Millennium Date: 29 Mar 1996 08:24:56 GMT Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Lines: 57 Message-ID: <slrn4ln7s5.2lp.root@marsgrp.tamu.edu> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j3muv$34m@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <4j3v64$1rq@virtech.aib.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp08-01.rns.tamu.edu X-Newsreader: slrn (0.8.6.1) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:13799 comp.os.linux.development.system:20224 comp.os.linux.x:27909 comp.os.linux.hardware:34697 comp.os.linux.setup:47788 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:344 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2842 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2623 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:16212 On 24 Mar 1996 12:01:56 -0500, David E. Wexelblat <dwex@aib.com> wrote: >In article <4j3muv$34m@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu>, >Marat Fayzullin <fms@wam.umd.edu> wrote: >>Peter F. McDermott (pmcdermo@cs.utexas.edu) wrote: >>: Unix/Linux drivers & support for all our boards are available from X-Inside >>: at 303-384-9999. We have a closed architecture chip set. We have the fastest >>: board on the market. The reason for this is our chip set. We did not create >>>Take the existing drivers. Disassemble. Take a look. If they do not >>>care about you, why should you care about their stinking industrial >>>secrets? >>>Marat >> >1) It's illegal. >2) You will make no friends in the XFree86[TM] community by doing so. We > will do all in our power to stop you. > >This same brain-dead logic could be applied to counterfieting - the US >treasury wants to be the only one able to make $100 bills, so screw them, >just make your own on a color copier. > >Idiots like you are what gives free software a bad name. >-- >David Wexelblat (703) 787-7700 dwex@aib.com >PLATINUM technology, inc (703) 787-7720 (fax) http://www.platinum.com >AIB Software Lab 1145 Herndon Parkway Herndon, VA 22070 I agree that the person suggesting the disassembly lacks a certain amount of tact, but you try to rebutt this with erroneous statements. If you own software, it's yours to disassemble. It's not yours to disassemble and give away the results of the disassembly. This is not quite the same as copying $100 bills. Further, so long as you don't publish code outright, nothing prevents you from discussing how one might go about writing code. After all, I can still write a sonnet so long as I don't write one someone else has copyrighted. I can even discuss sonnets using various copyrighted ones as examples of the form without violating any laws. Just because you cannot provide the code in the context of a finished product that is functionally identical to the original doesn't mean you can't find out how it works and explain it. If companies were more willing to help out their customers rather than try to make sure that nobody benefits until they get their cut, these acrimonius and pointless wastes of diskspace would be reduced and the companies themselves would benefit financially. Diamond didn't lose me as a customer because they were helpful and made a crappy product. They lost me because they are whatever the antithesis of helpful would be, and as a result, if my card was the best card in the world, I would have no way of knowing. No one that takes my advice will ever find out if Diamond (and now Matrox) make a decent product either. semon@comp.tamu.edu