Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 17:12:14 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: dennis@etinc.com (dennis) Cc: terry@lambert.org, msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: if_de.c ???? Message-ID: <199705130012.RAA08690@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19970512193131.00c392e0@etinc.com> from "dennis" at May 12, 97 07:31:34 pm
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> >This presumes that somehow the "taiwanese clone manufacturers" can > >ride on the backs of the marketing companies. This is an unlikely > >scenario -- each company must do it's own marketing. > > What planet are you from? There are HUNDREDS of ne2000 clones that > do zero marketing. Infotel and a hoard of other DEC chip clones rode > SMC...now SMC is in having big problems. How do people who intend to purchase the things find them, then? 8-). > You cant patent an interface, and with a single chip solution you dont > have to make many changes to a card to copy the interface without > violating any copyrights. Even if you can't *patent* an interface, you can sure as hell copyright one, as Adaptec and Diamond and Matrox have demonstrated. > You could have EXACTLY the same hardware > layout as another card and route the traces differently and its not a > violation. If you make your interface public, there are lots of ways > to clone the card..you dont even have to use the same parts, but you > can sell your (cheap) hardware on the public perception that the > software drivers are stable. Then pull a "Nintendo", and put a patented chip on your card that isn't on anyone elses card (without a license from you) that shuffles the command set, or whatever, so the drivers aren't generic. Or get together with the manufacturer to have it read command codes out of a ROM you copyright, and then each clone manufacturer has to violate your ROM copyright to use the "generic" drivers. Make it a two chip soloution, where the layout is the same for all vendors, and the second chip differs. Or hire Taiwanese (or other) manufacturers to build your card for you, instead of doing it with inflated and over-valued US labor. All the disk manufacturers have gone this route -- even IOmega. Then you can compete on an equal footing with the clone card vendors. Or (gasp!) charge what the market will bear for your commodity cards. Regards, Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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