Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 13:43:57 -0400 From: W Gerald Hicks <wghicks@bellsouth.net> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG, wghicks@wghicks.bellsouth.net Subject: Re: IA64: Back on topic Message-ID: <199907161743.NAA00670@bellsouth.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 16 Jul 1999 10:54:37 MDT." <4.2.0.58.19990716104953.045e4aa0@localhost>
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>>Look at that word you used twice here. Perhaps this has a small >>effect on people's willingness to get involved with the Merced? > >Sorry, but companies -- especially hardware companies -- will always >want to keep competitors from knowing their plans. There's nothing >immoral about that. They're not under any obligation to tell you anything >they don't want to. (If they were, it'd be just as bad as the forced >disclosure required by the GPL.) One of the reasons I advocate the >BSD approach is that it allows people to choose whether or not to >give away their work. And if those terms are not acceptable then people are not forced to use the products either. It's ok to spare the lecture in market dynamics too, we've both been at this for a long time, right? The real truth is, no one really understands the dynamics of these markets yet, they are too young. Certainly now is not the time to give up ground toward proprietary encroachment. That could have _very_ negative long term consequences. It's very important to me, as one of FreeBSD's customers, that the project remain aligned with its principle of openness. > >The NDAs will expire by the time the chips are available in quantity, >so users of the code won't have to do without source. > I haven't reviewed the terms of the NDA and don't intend to. The Merced will become practical for my concerns when there is significant market acceptance and mindshare committed to it. Right now everthing is smoke and mirrors. >>I hope the FreeBSD project will mostly ignore the Merced until >>it works. In this context "works" means a helluva lot more than >>executing instructions. > >This sort of attitude is PRECISELY why FreeBSD is so far behind Linux. > Obviously, I don't agree with you. In their rush to embrace corporate adoption, Linux is experiencing new pressures and obstacles. Being forced to enter an NDA for a CPU is a good example. -- Jerry Hicks wghicks@bellsouth.net To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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