Re: [OT] Stupid consumers and inferior hardware
On Mon, 3 Jan 2011 00:13:24 +0100
Enrico Weigelt <weigelt@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.
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