Message-ID: <20061226140443.91401.qmail@web32607.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 06:04:43 -0800 (PST)
From: Martin Knoblauch <knobi@knobisoft.de>
Reply-To: knobi@knobisoft.de
Subject: Re: Binary Drivers
To: Trent Waddington <trent.waddington@gmail.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
In-Reply-To: <3d57814d0612260333h7a7a835dwf5b95a3ad26ad2ab@mail.gmail.com>
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--- Trent Waddington <trent.waddington@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 12/26/06, Martin Knoblauch <knobi@knobisoft.de> wrote:
> >
> >  Oh, if only for Christmas - stop this stupid car comparisons. They
> are
> > just that - utter nonsense.
> >
> >  And now lets stop the car nonsense !!!! :-)
> 
> I agree, if you really want to talk about cars, I can relate the woes
> I've heard from mechanics about how impossible it is to service new
> model Fords these days.

 A behaviour that is not very different from gthe GMs, BMWs,
daimler-Chryslers, Toyota, "you name them" of this world.

 I never said I liked the attitude.

>  Without the engine management systems
> diagnostics devices they can't do anything.  Ford controls who gets
> these devices and demands a cut of every service, essentially setting
> the price.  Service centers that don't play ball don't get the
> devices or get the devices taken away from them if they question 
> Ford's pricing policies.  Of course, this should be illegal, and our
> governments should be enforcing antitrust laws, but Ford is a big
> company and has lots of lawyers..
>

 Actually we have/had a similar situation here in Germany. We are  used
to having "licensed dealerships" which are only allowed to sell one car
brand. This might be illegal by EU laws now.

> Repco and other after market manufacturers can't easily make a clone
> of these devices like they do every other part, because reverse
> engineering software is not really as advanced as reverse engineering
> spare parts.. or maybe software reverse engineering is just so much
> more expensive than automotive reverse engineering that it is not
> cost effective to clone these devices.. or maybe they're just afraid
> of the lawyers too.
> 

 Understanding software is more difficult, because you also have to
understand the working prinziple of the underlying hardware, which you
often have no specs for either. So you have to reverse engineer both
layers.

Cheers
Martin

------------------------------------------------------
Martin Knoblauch
email: k n o b i AT knobisoft DOT de
www:   http://www.knobisoft.de
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