> No, they think that if the release the details on how to talk with their
> cards then:
> * competitors will be able to clone their cards and so they loose $$
> * competitors will be able to steal their ideas (``hey, what a
> neat way of getting/asking it do do XXXX'') and so make their
> competitors products better than their owen.
Please don't forget:
* without an extremely good reason, they don't want to spend the
time and money involved in writing and distributing the
documentation and sample code needed to interface with their card.
To misquote someone: "never attribute to malice what can be attributed to
ignorance or inertia".
> Whether any of the above will (in reality) happen is another matter, but
> as far as they are concerned they can't loose by no releasing the
> interface details --- ``people don't need it anyway 'cos we have written
> all the drivers and they get it on a floppy, anyone who wants to write
> their own driver must be nuts.''
>
> The only way of getting them to release the specs is by education. Every
> time I look at something and can't see the specs I email them to let
> them know that I won't be buying their product because the interfaces
> aren't documented; it is sad to say that 95% don't bother to even reply.
You'll have to sell the company on the idea, and I mean that quite
literally. A company exists to make a product, and it has to make money to
continue to exist so that it can continue to make that product. You have
to show them how documenting the hardware is a net win for them. Telling
them that you won't buy their product for X reason isn't very focussed --
there are billions of people in the world who won't be buying their
product.
-- Kenneth Albanowski (kjahds@kjahds.com, CIS: 70705,126)
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