From: Shawn Leas <sleas@ixion.honeywell.com>
  To  : ggi-develop@eskimo.com
  Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 11:57:28 -0500 (CDT)

Re: NVidia is a horseshit company

On Thu, 17 Sep 1998, Neal Tucker wrote:

> Shawn Leas says:

> Whatever they designed the driver to do with the card is their
> definition of the cards fullest potential.  If you think you can get
> more out of the card than they provide, you're on your own.
> 
> They have *no* obligation to tell you how to program the card.

I'll just state again that I feel that this information is *necessary* for
the use of the card unless you have Windows, and this sort of thing has
recently been looked down upon by the courts.

> > The real question here is whether they have the right (at LEAST in this
> > case) or the justification to hold that info proprietory.
> 
> Of course they have the right to do this.  Do you expect a full
> schematic for the card's layout too?  Why not?  Don't you feel you
> have a "right" to that information?

It's none of their damn business, either, whether I develope on NT, 95,
Linux, FreeBSD, or fucking SCO.  So, requiring that I be a Windows
developer before I could buy any programming info is pretty not-kosher.

> > when you buy a card, you buy:
> > 
> > 	1) The right to use it to it's full potential
> > 	2) The right to obtain enough info to achieve #1, regardless
> > 	of what OS you run.
> 
> Here's a scenario for you.  I design a video card, and I write a
> linux driver for it, and manufacture a bunch of them.  Then, I
> find all the documentation I ever wrote for this card and I burn
> it.  Now, I've got a warehouse full of cards and I sell them,
> guaranteeing that they will work with a specific linux version
> using my driver, and that is all.  If my product does what it
> says, and lots of people want to buy it, I should be able to
> retire and live off the profits.  But in your world, this is
> illegal, because I, being the only person who knows anything
> about the card, am somehow required to pay a service to those
> who bought the card, and write them some documentation when they
> demand it.  Even though I sold them a product that did exactly
> what I advertised it would do, but they decided it should do more.

Ok, your argument is invalid.  NVidia refuses to supply/sell/give/or
otherwise make available any documentation unless you develop for
windows.  Non of their fucking business.

> I plan to mail NVidia something to the effect of "I'm interested
> in your Riva card, but I want a card which I can write low-level
> software for directly.  Are Riva programming specs available?"
> No need to come across as a frothing "HEY WE DEMAND THIS OR ELSE!"
> spaz.  Just let them know that they really will lose that sale

What, did I Cc: nvidia on this thread?

-Shawn
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