From owner-freebsd-stable Mon Nov 6 16:50:11 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from ptavv.es.net (ptavv.es.net [198.128.4.29]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 091CE37B479; Mon, 6 Nov 2000 16:50:09 -0800 (PST) Received: from ptavv.es.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ptavv.es.net (8.10.1/8.10.1) with ESMTP id eA70o8132068; Mon, 6 Nov 2000 16:50:08 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <200011070050.eA70o8132068@ptavv.es.net> To: Mike Smith Cc: Mats Lofkvist , stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Supporting "winmodems" (was: PCI Modems Not Shown As Supported Hardware) In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 06 Nov 2000 14:26:59 PST." <200011062226.eA6MQxF28518@mass.osd.bsdi.com> Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2000 16:50:08 -0800 From: "Kevin Oberman" Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2000 14:26:59 -0800 > From: Mike Smith > Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG > > > Vote with your wallet. By keeping the winmodem you _help_ the > > inventor/manufacturer you say you'd like to see dead. Asking > > for it to be supported makes him wish for more enemies like you. > > The inventor is too smart. Typically you *can't* return the damn things; > either because the vendor (eg. Xircom) uses self-destructing packaging > (so you can't return it in resaleable condition), or because it's > integrated into your device and can't be removed, or because you've > purchased it as part of a non-seperable bundle. If the packaging does not indicate that it is a real modem, you have perfect grounds to demand the manufacturer take it back. Whether the store will take it back is, of course, up to them, but most will do so. If consumers put up with the sale of these things under false pretense, they have no one to blame but themselves. (Note: If you miss a note on the package that tells you that it's a Winmodem, you probably have no recourse, but many stores will STILL take it back if you act PROMPTLY after the purchase. R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message