[driverloader] license fees

Sun Nov 9 18:57:32 EST 2003

Alexander Ellberg schrieb am Sonntag, 9. November 2003 15:42:
> Hi Linuxant Team,

Hello,

I see this topic from two sides.

I think people who have good products should get money for it. Everybody 
then can decide if it is worth it buying the product. And why should 
people get a driver for free when they on the other side are willing to 
pay for a forced licence for $150 they do not need at all.

On the other side I would have calculated a more reasonable price. You 
get orinoco based PCMCIA for $35 easily. These are fully supported and 
you do not need to renew any licence ever. A lot of people do this 
calculation and decide for this alternativ. I am sure there would be 
more profit if the price for a licence would be below $10. Additionally 
I would have offered free licences to the people on the mailing list 
signed up before licence fee anouncement. They did a lot of testing and 
posted a lot information to develop information (E.g. I posted the 
working of driverloader on an ASUS M2400N but did not find any hint on 
the compatibily list yet, ASUS being a very famous notebook vendor for 
Linux users; they do not force you to buy a MS OS)

I see the support from linuxant being very good. You can imagine the 
response when asking MS why Win XP does not support a USB standard 
mouse ;-) 

Best regards

Stefan

>
> with all due respect but this course of action really disappoints me.
> I didnt pay almost 1800$ for a notebook only to realize that the only
> option to make the Centrino components work with my linux  system is
> to pay (again) 20 bucks for a proprietary driver loader. I have
> chosen linux besides other benifits for the reason that i didnt have
> to pay for it.
> Linux is open source and therefore its drivers should also be
> available without further costs.
> Dont get me wrong but i believe that Linuxant is betraying the
> community with this marketing strategy. If you guys really have such
> a close relationship to the hardware vendors it should be possible to
> make the driverloader-concept available without any license fees.
>
> Your advantage is the lack of official hardware drivers for linux and
> the unability of the vendors to improve the situation. Intel promised
> the Centrino owners to develop a working driver structure for all
> compentens of the system yet there isnt even a beta available. I
> really hope Linuxant is going to find another more consumer friendly
> option to release their driverloader architecture. Until this moment
> i will have to wait for the native intel Centrino drivers.
>
> Sincerely
>
> A. Ellberg
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marc Boucher" <marc at linuxant.com>
> To: <driverloader-announce at lists.linuxant.com>
> Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 2:01 PM
> Subject: [driverloader] [driverloader-announce] Permanent
> DriverLoader licenses now available
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Please see the official press release below for details.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Marc
> >
> > ---
> >
> > LINUXANT MAKES PERMANENT DRIVERLOADER LICENSES DIRECTLY AVAILABLE
> > TO
>
> END-USERS
>
> > MONTREAL, QC Nov. 9, 2003 - Linuxant inc. is announcing, due to
> > strong popular demand, the immediate availability of permanent
> > end-user licenses
>
> for
>
> > DriverLoader, a revolutionary compatibility-wrapper allowing
> > standard Windows NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification)
> > drivers shipped by hardware vendors to be used as-is on Linux x86
> > systems.
> >
> > DriverLoader licenses for end-users have been affordably priced at
> > USD
>
> $19.95
>
> > and can now be purchased online from Linuxant's web store
> > (https://www.linuxant.com/store). Upgrades to future versions will
> > be provided at no extra charge for at least one year or longer.
> > Free 30-day trial licenses also remain available. Due to
> > significant
>
> development/support
>
> > costs, and inconclusive discussions with hardware vendors, it is
> > not
>
> possible
>
> > to make DriverLoader completely free for end-users at this time.
> >
> > The latest release of DriverLoader can be downloaded from
> > Linuxant's web
>
> site
>
> > and features significant stability improvements and compatibility
> > with Intel PRO/Wireless (Centrino), Broadcom, Intersil Prism
> > GT/Duette/Indigo, Cisco, Realtek, Texas Instruments, Atheros, and
> > other Wireless LAN drivers for Windows.
> >
> > Linuxant is committed to continue improving DriverLoader so that it
>
> becomes a
>
> > fully compatible generic wrapper capable of running the majority of
>
> Windows
>
> > NDIS drivers.
> >
> > DriverLoader technology is the ideal Linux solution to support
> > devices for which no adequate native open-source drivers are
> > available. It also allows vendors to drastically reduce time to
> > market or eliminate the need to
>
> support
>
> > multiple drivers for Windows and Linux. By using the same NDIS
> > driver on
>
> both
>
> > platforms, significant resources can be saved. All Linux-specific
> > code in DriverLoader remains open-source, allowing it to be used
> > under any
>
> supported
>
> > version of the kernel.
> >
> > Thanks to DriverLoader, owners of Wireless LAN devices (CardBus and
> > PCI)
>
> with
>
> > compatible Windows drivers can now use their devices under Linux,
> > enjoying the full speed of the latest Wireless LAN technology with
> > the freedom of
>
> the
>
> > renowned open-source operating-system.
> >
> > DriverLoader packages can be downloaded from Linuxant's web site.
> > The software is easy to install on standard Linux distributions
> > (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian, and derivatives) with any recent
> > 2.4 or 2.6 kernel, and includes a user-friendly Web-based
> > configuration system.
> >
> > Vendors interested in using DriverLoader technology to enable their
>
> products
>
> > under Linux should contact services at linuxant.com.
> >
> > For more information or to download your copy of DriverLoader,
> > please go
>
> to
>
> > http://www.linuxant.com
> >
> >
> >
> > About Linuxant
> >
> > Linuxant is a world-class supplier of consulting, software
> > development and professional support services. Linuxant works
> > closely with leading vendors and OEMs of semiconductor, PC,
> > embedded and communication/wireless
>
> products,
>
> > as well as with companies in other industries, providing
> > technological expertise and solutions to maximize the potential of
> > Linux and
>
> open-source.
>
> > Additionally, Linuxant develops and distributes specialized system
>
> software,
>
> > such as device drivers for specific applications.
> >
> > Linuxant and DriverLoader are trademarks of Linuxant inc.
> > Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the US and some other
> > countries. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
> > _______________________________________________
> > driverloader-announce mailing list
> > driverloader-announce at lists.linuxant.com
> > https://www.linuxant.com/mailman/listinfo/driverloader-announce
> > _______________________________________________
> > driverloader mailing list
> > driverloader at lists.linuxant.com
> > https://www.linuxant.com/mailman/listinfo/driverloader