Stephan,
I definitely agree that our worlds do not match. While I would hate
to lose any customers there are some things that can not be avoided.
There are many things to be taken into consideration when we make our
drivers. One the vast majority of our customers use Windows and
therefore we must devote most of our time there. Second when a new OS
comes out from Microsoft (such as XP) we are given beta copies 6 months
in advance so that our drivers hit the market along side the new OS
release. This just doesn't happen with Linux. I agree that this would
be much simpler if the source code was released and we had "help" in
driver development but as I said that just can't happen, end of story.
Now as to specs for the board itself you can check with sales because I
am not even sure what our policy is on that and I wish you luck in those
regards.
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephan von Krawczynski [mailto:skraw@ithnet.com]
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 3:15 PM
To: Dave Rattay [ITeX]
Cc: Benjamin LaHaise; alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk; egberts@yahoo.com;
lkml@secureone.com.au; linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org; ITeX Tech Support
Subject: RE: Dlink DSL PCI Card
> Stephan,
> [...]
> Due to previous licensing
> agreements we cannot release our source code to anyone including our
> direct customers and there is no way around that. Sorry.
Hello Dave,
first of all: thank you for your clear statement.
Unfortunately your world and our (linux-) world do not match (in my
eyes). If you cannot provide either docs or source code chances will
be very high that your product line (chips) will be disliked by a big
percentage of linux using people. Most of them do not like w*ndows
because they cannot control what the system is doing, you are _never_
sure what it does to your (personal) data and where it will be spread.
If you - being a linux user - would be willing to use binary-only
drivers you are just about in the same situation - you lost control.
Your statement - for me - makes one thing absolutely clear: I will
never use your chips.
> Now if you
> have a request for a driver please let me know the kernel version
being
> used as well as the ADSL protocol that you have. I will see what I
can
> do to get you a usable driver.
I do not want a useable driver. I want to have full control over my
system where my personal data resides on. You deny this. I cannot
certify a customer system including your drivers either. Simply
because I cannot check out the code. This is why my customers will not
buy your chips either.
In fact I would not even take them as free gift. Their use is a severe
security issue.
I have no doubts though that you might sell a lot of pieces in the
w*ndows market.
Regards,
Stephan
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Feb 23 2002 - 21:00:47 EST