Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!rice!sun-spots-request From: mips!mips.com!mash@decwrl.dec.com (John Mashey) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun Subject: Re: new product rumors Keywords: Miscellaneous Message-ID: <16581@winchester.mips.COM> Date: 24 Apr 89 02:44:07 GMT References: <890302023213.283417@DOCKMASTER.ARPA> <797@ethz.UUCP> Sender: usenet@rice.edu Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 37 Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu Original-Date: 4 Apr 89 23:25:35 GMT X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 7, Issue 241, message 12 of 15 X-Issue-Reference: v7n224 mcvax!ethz!marti@uunet.uu.net (Robert Marti) writes: >Well, let me add my $0.02's worth: >I also agree that people who get information under terms of non-disclosure >should keep their mouths shut. HOWEVER, I always get the impression that >vendors usually don't mind at all if you pass on the information revealed >under non-disclosure. By having you sign an agreement, they are basically >just covering their asses in case they don't/can't ship as planned so that >no customer or competitor can sue them on the basis of whatever >information was revealed. No. Maybe there are such vendors, and maybe some vendors protect trivial information with nondisclosures, but people who ask for nondisclosures are usually pretty serious about it. I don't know which vendors "usually don't mind...". There are certainly different levels of concern, depending on how far away the product is, and how much damage will be done by having the information available. Competitors are hardly likely to sue; they're much more likely to be delighted if such information is floating around. In a business that moves as fast as this does, a few months' warning is sometimes like gold. I don't care if there are vendors out there who don't mind; most vendors mind a whole bunch; at the very least, if they catch you violating nondisclosure, you'll never get advance information again (if you're an end user, this may not matter much, but there are plenty of places in this business where you must get timely advanced information under nondisclosure to stay competitive); this business is surprisingly well-connected, and you'd be astonished how fast word spreads if you become viewed as untrustworthy; at worst, somebody will sue you, and if they can prove it, you won't be happy. Anyway, please don't take nondisclosure lightly. -- -john mashey DISCLAIMER: UUCP: {ames,decwrl,prls,pyramid}!mips!mash OR mash@mips.com DDD: 408-991-0253 or 408-720-1700, x253 USPS: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques, Sunnyvale, CA 94086