From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Intel may just be worried that there _might_ be a problem > they don't > > know about and are trying to protect themselves. I imagine > that there > > are plenty of opportunities for someone to either willfully or > > accidentally introduce patented technologies, for which > Intel does not > > hold a license, into their commercial products. Rather > than releasing > > information and potentially having to deal with an intellectual > > property issue, Intel just doesn't release the information. > > So not releasing docu because of patents is a straw-man argument. > Especially since a docu for writing a driver just needs to > describe the basic functionality of the card. The DMA engine > and the register set and btw. networking chipsets (wireless > or not) are not rocket science.
Good point to make. Intel doesn't want consumers to know that; they want everyone to *think* they are getting cutting edge technology innovation, thus justifying the premium money you drop on any product with the Intel name on it. The fact is, they are not performing miracle work with what they produce. In reality, they produce stuff that has bugs, like everyone else, and not releasing docs helps them hide that fact. The only way to write reliable driver support is to get enough documentation to build off of. Stop buying into their marketing drivel. We've been around this carousel before; as a consumer, it partly sickens me to see the user base coming to an vendor's defense to excuse them from these simple facts. I wouldn't be so empassioned about this one except for one reason; it's getting increasingly harder to buy systems these days that don't ship with some Intel component in them, and in the case of wireless support, it sucks having to deal with them. Intel's positioned themselves as a "market leader", so now it's time they reciprocate some of that by supporting the community that lines their pockets. DS
