sane-project-website/old-archive/1999-04/0035.html

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<!-- subject="Re: Sane drivers" -->
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<title>sane-devel: Re: Sane drivers</title>
<h1>Re: Sane drivers</h1>
<b>Tripp Lilley</b> (<a href="mailto:tlilley@perspex.com"><i>tlilley@perspex.com</i></a>)<br>
<i>Fri, 2 Apr 1999 20:21:23 -0500 (EST)</i>
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On Sat, 3 Apr 1999, Hugo van der Kooij wrote:<br>
<p>
<i>&gt; We don't sign non-disclosure papers. This is a open-source project. So in</i><br>
<i>&gt; the end you loose as we now now that your scanners should be</i><br>
<i>&gt; avoided as your company does not support open-source.</i><br>
<i>&gt; </i><br>
<i>&gt; I do fear you have a lot to learn yet about linux and open-source.</i><br>
<p>
And we, as a community, have a lot to learn yet about how to best convince<br>
people to join us. I believe we will make much more headway with Microtek<br>
if we can explain to them the benefits of releasing driver details without<br>
the encumberance of non-disclosure agreements. If we can collect<br>
statistics about our users, testimonials as to why they use brand X<br>
scanners with SANE, and what they'd ideally use, if drivers existed, we<br>
can do more to sway Microtek and others.<br>
<p>
It won't do to simply say "your loss" and move on, as tempting as this<br>
might be. The bottom line is that we /all/ lose when someone decides not<br>
to play with us. The more hardware and software there is that "plays nice"<br>
with Free (and Open Source) Software, the better off the whole situation<br>
is. Hardware vendors sell more hardware, users get more done with<br>
functional software, consultants get paid obscene amounts of money to make<br>
the world go round (as they do now, only with better toys to make it go<br>
round), and full-time software developers get paid by consultants who have<br>
the vision to understand that without them, it's back to fighting BSODs.<br>
<p>
But in order for this vision to come to be, we must unlearn many of our<br>
divisive, confrontational ways, and focus on how to constructively and<br>
convincingly lure new blood into our world.<br>
<p>
Or, as my mom is so find of saying, "You catch more flies with honey than<br>
with vinegar". Let's try not to scrutinize the analogy too far, though, as<br>
we all know that flies /really/ love a steaming pile of horseshit.<br>
<p>
So, to Microtek, I'd like to extend an invitation to join us. We have a<br>
growing community of avid users, many of whom work for free as advocates<br>
for products that "play well" in the Open Source Sandbox. Of course, many<br>
of those advocates are even now recommending HP and UMAX scanners, in<br>
spite of how they might feel about Microtek hardware. I, for one, was<br>
consistenly impressed with the Microtek scanners we had at a multimedia<br>
lab where I once worked, but run a 100% Linux/GNU/Open Source shop now.<br>
<p>
Perhaps we might together investigate your company's reasons for requiring<br>
an NDA, and perhaps break down a few of the fears driving that<br>
requirement. Many folks are finding that the protection they seek in<br>
obscurity can better be had through open discourse. As the security world<br>
is wont to say, "Security through obscurity is no security at all".<br>
<p>
<pre>
--
   Tripp Lilley + Innovative Workflow Engineering, Inc. + (<a href="mailto:tripp@iweinc.com">tripp@iweinc.com</a>)
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  "You know, this /is/ kinda like the community room in a mental ward."
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-- 
   Mary Papadopoulos (roommate), commenting on our office/rec room
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<p>
<ul>
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<li> <b>Next message:</b> <a href="0036.html">David Mosberger-Tang: "Re: Internationalized Sane"</a>
<li> <b>Previous message:</b> <a href="0034.html">Hugo van der Kooij: "Re: Sane drivers"</a>
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