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Date:      Sat, 24 Mar 2001 13:16:13 -0500
From:      Dennis <dennis@etinc.com>
To:        Luigi Rizzo <luigi@info.iet.unipi.it>
Cc:        isp@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Intel driver doc's Take 2.
Message-ID:  <5.0.0.25.0.20010324130843.02127dd0@mail.etinc.com>
In-Reply-To: <200103241731.SAA49447@info.iet.unipi.it>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0103240847540.92915-100000@beppo.feral.com>

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At 12:31 PM 03/24/2001, you wrote:
>I have read the thread for a while, and i wonder:
>
>why in the world someone should go through the effort and
>responsibility of SIGNING THE NDA _and_ negotiating with Intel
>for getting permissions to redistribute the code ?
>
>I do not see how this is doing any good to the project, given that
>1) there are alternatives (for 100Mbit quite a few of them), and some
>    cards are even better and cheaper than the "fxp";
>2) even if you have hardware with an "fxp" on board, adding a second
>    supported card is cheap and easy -- nothing like having to put
>    in a second video card;
>
>Of course if you need support for this card in your own business,
>you do what you need (including NDA's etc), but that is a totally
>different story (and it appears to be a relatively straightforward
>and quick thing to do if you do not need to redistribute the source
>code).
>
>I think we all have better ways to use our time for FreeBSD than
>dealing with the legal department of some company.

The real answer is very simple. Let J. Lemon distribute the driver as a 
binary (boy wouldnt it be neat to have real support for binary 
distributions in FreeBSD!!!) and if you need source make it available from 
intel or J. Lemon after an intel NDA had been signed.

You get your driver and your source, if and only if you need it.

Why? Because its good to have support for major manufacture's products in 
the OS. Its gives commercial vendors another reason to chose FreeBSD. You 
are right, FreeBSD can probably do without it, but to let a perfectly good 
driver go to waste is a waste.

Of course, J. L. could sell his driver also...theres no law that says he 
has to give it away. His NDA gives him the potential for a feature 
advantage which he can capitalize on, which is Intels intention in 
protecting their developers. Intel is just reserving their right to deny 
him from disclosing, which he should have known when he signed the NDA.

Dennis


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