On Mon, 3 Jan 2011 00:13:24 +0100 Enrico Weigelt <weig...@metux.de> dijo:
>> why do companies keep source "secret" for their old tech 10/100 >> cards. > >That happens when excelsheet jerks rule over things they dont >understand. They simply can't imagine that there're really valid >reasons for some people bying mainframes worth >100k$ which run >seamlessly for decades. > >BTW: one of the funniest arguments for not releasing the sources I >got back from NV jerks was the fear that leaks could be found. >Well, seems they *know* how bad their code is ;-o It has far more to do with the legal department than the coding folks. These days chips are so complex that it is difficult to design one without inadvertently infringing on someone else's patent. If the source code for the driver is available it makes it a lot easier for competitors to figure out the design of your chip. Keeping the driver binary and secret makes it a lot harder for them to make legal claims. And these days suing a competitor into bankruptcy is just as effective for your bottom line as making a better product at a lower cost. Either way the competitor is not around any more, and the legal approach is usually more cost effective than the expense of designing a better and cheaper product. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110102174116.0ad35...@mailhost.pdx.edu