On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, Frykholm, Niklas wrote:
> I had the same problem. It is a real nuisance, especially if you work on
> projects with short deadlines. I understand that 3Com wants to protect its
> products, but frankly I fail to see what the Confidentiality Agreement
> really protects, considering that
>
> A) ROMs are already being distributed on warez sites (as someone reported).
> B) Since it is (very nearly) impossible to trace the source of a ROM that
> has been spread, no one will ever be charged with having broken the
> agreement.
> C) Anyone who has a Palm device can get the ROMs without having to sign
> anything.
>
> // Niklas
I can't believe you are making this argument. "Because you can get it
illegally, Palm should just give up" ?!! Are you a developer? What if
your app was on a warez site? Should you just start to give it away now?
That's absolutely ridiculous.
There's always going to be people who break the rules. Does that mean we
should all start lying and cheating? I hope not.
3com needs to protect it's interests, otherwise they have no reason to
continue creating products.
Apparently, the NDA process is rather cumbersome. Instead of starting the
wonderfully clueless open source chant, let's talk about ways we might be
able to make the process better. (Like, in the US, a faxed signature IS
considered legal)
--
Brian Mathis
Direct Edge
