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From: shankar@chromatic.com (Shankar Unni)
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
Followup-To: 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
Date: 6 Aug 1996 01:53:24 GMT
Organization: Chromatic Research, Sunnyvale, CA
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References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j36ev$prl@news.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> <32023A5E.7623@alaska.net>
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hmmm (hmmm@alaska.net) wrote:
> what a bunch of BS. the way is see it, it's a matter of laziness. the
> companies are afraid once they do that, they will have to deal with
> further questions, although, i'm just not sure why they behave so.
That's one. Another reason is that many companies are not used to dealing
with the free software scene, and are paranoid that someone may hold them
to their current documented interface and sue them if something doesn't
work as advertised.
After all, our fine legal system thrives on this sort of stuff ("so you
think you can just give away stuff knowing it could damage Mr X's hard
disk, eh? Well, he's gonna sue your pants off even if he got it free.
Disclaimer? What disclaimer?").
And yes, there's also the not-insignificant aspect of having to "support"
the released spec - after all, it takes time to answer questions, and they
want you to pony up for their time.. It's not exactly laziness, but a
desire to minimize what they see as "wasted time".
--
Shankar Unni shankar@chromatic.com
Chromatic Research (408) 752-9488