Re: ACX100 Firmware Licensing

[Eric White <eswhite_(_at_)_gmail_(_dot_)_com>]

I am somewhat new to OpenBSD, and not
entirely sure that I agree with this tactic.  I
realize the Catch-22 nature of the situation,
but might there be a better way then 
spamming a handful of persons who potentially
have nothing to do with the product.

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:13:31 -0500, asenchi_(_at_)_asenchi_(_dot_)_com
<asenchi_(_at_)_asenchi_(_dot_)_com> wrote:
> On Tue Oct 26, 2004 at 11:05:52AM -0600, Theo de Raadt wrote:
> > For those of you new to this type of (shall we call it) activism,
> > let me tell you something.
> >
> > I think 6 years ago we asked our user community to contact Adaptec in
> > the same way.  We had been requesting documentation for their scsi
> > chips, and Adaptec had been giving us the round-about for over a year.
> > It was going nowhere.  We asked our users to email the 30-some email
> > addresses which we had attempted dialogue with over the year.  Five
> > hours later I had a phone call from Adaptec asking me to stop our
> > users from mailing them.  I said it was `beyond my control'.  They
> > said that a few of the people were HR staff.  I said it was `beyond my
> > control'.  Next day, Adaptec asked for two of our addresses.  They
> > express shipped boxes containing a full compliment of cards, as well
> > as documentation for all their chips.  As a result today you will find
> > that Adaptec scsi support in OpenBSD is solid.
> >
> > (Similar approaches with other vendors have had impact as well;
> > OpenBSD -- and other systems -- are better as a result).  The QLogic
> > story is similar.
> >
> > In this case, we are not asking TI for documentation for their boards.
> > A driver already exists.  I believe it was reverse engineered by some
> > Linux people, and BSD work is in progress.  We just want to discuss
> > with TI what licensing changes might be possible so that the firmware
> > for their cards can be included in Open Source operating system
> > releases.  Having to install a firmware file only found on a CDROM
> > sold with the card after install is crazy.
> >
> > These companies are huge and they shelter their internal decision
> > makers; even after weeks orr months of effort it is still impossible
> > for us to talk to the right people, and even then, they try to ignore
> > us because they do not think our concerns are important enough.
> >
> > As consumers, you can change that.  It worked before.  Worth trying,
> > no?
> >
> > Just tell the right TI people to come talking to me.
> >
> > Thanks.
> 
> I know that you probably don't need to hear from everyone, but I wanted to let
> you know that they have been contacted by me and forwarded to you.
> 
> I think this is a great thing and will hopefully produce results similar to
> that stated above.
> 
> I must say there have been many times that I've wanted to send off a letter
> about a closed source product but have never really known what exactly to say.
> This letter from Ryan McBride is a great example and will provide a wonderful
> template for future 'mass email campaigns'.  Is there a list of products that
> we should send this too?  Can people post a list of products they would like
> to see?  Ones in particular?  I am going to scour the archives looking for
> some, then I'll contact them.
> 
> Thanks for all of your hard work.
> 
> Proud to be an OpenBSD user,
> 
> --
>   -Asenchi
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