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From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans,comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Please boycott Xircom
Message-ID: <NELSON.90Sep28233146@image.clarkson.edu>
Date: 29 Sep 90 04:31:46 GMT
References: <1990Sep26.042027.23110@news.clarkson.edu>
	<1990Sep26.145651.24708@daver.bungi.com>
	<1990Sep28.192413.21255@ism.isc.com>
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Reply-To: nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu (aka NELSON@CLUTX.BITNET)
Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam NY
Lines: 46
In-Reply-To: kirkd@clubisc.ism.isc.com's message of 28 Sep 90 19:24:13 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host: image.soe.clarkson.edu

In article <1990Sep28.192413.21255@ism.isc.com> kirkd@clubisc.ism.isc.com (Kirk Davis) writes:

   We at Xircom regret any confusion and inconvenience we
   may have caused regarding our support for the Packet
   Driver interface. But, due to the proprietary nature
   of the internal operation of our products, we feel it
   would not be prudent to freely distribute the source of
   our drivers.

Prudent or not, you agreed to do so, yet you have not.  That makes you
liars.  I suggest to dear gentle readers that they keep that in mind.

   Understanding Mr. Nelson's concern, Xircom will be
   discontinuing the shipment of the Packet Driver based
   on the Clarkson Packet driver and will be replacing it
   with a fully compliant Packet Driver developed
   independently.

"Concern"?  "CONCERN"?  You fardling stole my software, that's what you
did.  For a year you distributed it in violation of my copyright[1].  I've
gone beyond concern -- I'm right pissed!  And being a developer of free
software, I don't have money to pay a lawyer to sue your ass off [2].

You can bet your bippy I'm going to go over your "independently developed"
packet driver with a fine-toothed comb.

There are two morals to this story for other developers of free
software: Register your copyright so you can sue for damages, and
don't compromise free software.

    [1] You don't have to take my word for it.  Look at their Clarkson-
    derived driver and you'll see my copyright, which points you to the
    file called COPYING, which gives the terms for copying.  One of the
    terms is that all the source for an executable that includes my code
    must be available.  As a *concession* to Xircom's concerns, I allowed
    them to require a nondisclosure agreement before providing source
    to anyone requesting it.  They won't do it, even though they said
    they would.

    [2] I have also been advised that, lacking copyright registration, all
    that I could accomplish is to force you to stop distributing the driver,
    which you have already agreed to do.

--
--russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu])  Russ.Nelson@$315.268.6667
It's better to get mugged than to live a life of fear -- Freeman Dyson