> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Hank Cohen > Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 12:10 AM > To: misc@openbsd.org > Subject: Hifn policy on documentation > > Folks, > There has been some discussion of late on this list about > Hifn's policy > with respect to releasing documentation to the general public. That > discussion lead to a great deal of uninformed speculation and > unflattering statement's about Hifn's unfriendliness towards the open > source community. I would like to set the record straight. > > The simple fact is that anyone who wants access to Hifn's > documentation > need only log on to our extranet site (http://extranet.hifn.com/home/) > to download as much as they like. This is true of the 795x Algorithm > accelerator chips and the 7855 and 8155 HIPP chips. Some more > restrictions may apply to our NP and flow through part documents. > > Specifically the documentation for 7954, 7955 and 7956 is available. > The other chips that are supported by the Open BSD Crypto drivers > hifn(4), lofn(4) and nofn(4) (7751, 7811,7951, 9751, 6500, 7814, 7851 > and 7854) are legacy parts that are not recommended for new designs. > The driver will also work for 7954 even though that is not listed. > > This does represent some liberalization of access in recent months. > Hifn is always monitoring its policy with respect to the > confidentiality > of documentation and other business information. Some > information will > probably always require a non-disclosure agreement. Information that > falls into that category is generally of a sensitive > competitive nature, > contains trade secrets or is related to unanounced or unreleased > products. > > Software licenses are generally restricted in the disclosure or source > code reproduction rights. Hifn reserves the right to keep our source > code proprietary. This should not affect the hifn(4) driver > since that > driver is programmed directly to the hardware and does not use Hifn's > enablement software library. > > Registration at our extranet is required along with an email address > that can be confirmed. We cannot support anonymous FTP or http > downloads. The reason for this is that we are required by the > conditions of our US export licenses to know who and where > our customers > are. If anyone objects to registration then we could not sell them > chips anyway so it does not seem an unreasonable restriction to us. > > I hope that this clears the air. > > Best regards, > Hank Cohen > Product Line Manager > Hifn Inc. > 750 University Ave > Los Gatos Ca. 95032 > 408-399-3593 > >
Actually, it's just ignorance on Hifn Marketing's part. It's really that simple. Ignorance and stubborn misunderstanding, and it's incredibly frustrating. It's not stupidity - there's a difference. Ya don't know what ya don't know... They simply do not understand. Hank, certainly you can see the relationship between driver support on more platforms and increased product sales. It's just logical. More chips sold, and you get a bigger bonus! You can also understand the need for security and privacy - hence your product. Security is one of the main reasons people gravitate toward OpenBSD. You really have a lot in common. Check it out - OpenBSD people are writing code to support your products, and not only is it not costing your company a penny, but it is actively increasing the sale of your product. It's a total Win-Win. Do the numbers. When you look at the security minded bent of the OpenBSD community, what I would say is a fierce loyalty to those vendors that 'get it', and the fact that this thread will be available for all the World to see when they Google 'hifn openbsd', and you should start seeing that by stubbornly adhering to your policy, you are really just shooting yourself in the foot. What you *could* be doing is running as fast and hard as you can in the *other* direction - by actively helping Open Source developers as much as possible - and that means support with docs, dev kits, test hardware, and maybe even a little financial support. That's the savvy, New World MBA thing to do. I see this all the time, most big vendors are clueless, and frankly my company is guilty of it. What your company - and mine - need is to employ the perspective and wisdom of those deeply into open source to help them leverage the energy of those committed to providing quality, free software. For hardware vendors, there is no better way. But doing that correctly requires a real understanding of the culture, respect for why these developers do what they do, and a cultivation of trust in the community. I hope that decrypts the air a bit more. Regards, -C
