On Sun, 16 Sep 2001, Preston L. Bannister wrote:
> Ronald(?) signed the NDA, and the AMD knowledge he used to write
> that bit of code is covered by the NDA. So Ronald (or anyone else
> who had access to the AMD documentation under NDA) cannot legally
> make that bit of information publically available.
Actually that is not precisely true according to our lawyers. We are in
fact technically allowed to release code we develop. We are not allowed to
release the NDA materials themselves. But there is a lot of confusion on
this point too between companies. NDA does not always mean the same thing
to different parties.
Plus, I told AMD precisely what I intended to use the NDA material for,
and that it would be released under GPL (I checked my old note). At the
time it seemed that would not be an issue. According to people I've talked
to at AMD, it should not be an issue. But it is, evidently. What a shame!
That said, we are trying to make sure that we do not upset AMD. We would
like to have them as a partner and hence are not inclined to play these
legalistic games. We will release code when AMD is happy with it.
If we never are allowed to release code, then we are of course finished
with AMD and will move on to Itanium and P4.
ron
