[driverloader] Licensing regression between versions 2.28 and 2.29

[Duchesne Family]

Jonathan,

> Texas Instruments (TI) has decided not to renew the arrangement to
> cover the cost of licenses. This is why TI users now need to purchase
> a license key to use DriverLoader as it is the case with other chipsets.
>
> You can buy a license from our web store

Your reply, while informative, gives the impression that Linuxant deals
with this issue lightly, in a cavalier way. Let me explain why I'm
frustrated:

When I bought my first NIC (broadcom-based) from Linksys, I was happy to
learn about Linuxant, and went to Linuxant's web store to pay $ 20 to
buy my DriverLoader license for that NIC.

When I bought my second NIC (TI-based) from Linksys, I carefully chose
this model because it was supported by DriverLoader literally _out of
the box_. Of all the money I gave to Linksys to pay for this NIC, a
slice went to TI and ultimately to Linuxant to pay for _my_ DriverLoader
license (i.e. the DriverLoader license associated with the MAC of _my_
TI-based NIC). In other words, although I didn't have to go to
Linuxant's web store to pay for my license, I still did pay for it.

So I paid for both licenses, but when I upgrade from DriverLoader 2.28
to 2.29, my broadcom-based license is still OK, but my TI-based license
is not OK anymore. That is what is not normal.

While it is sad that TI did not renew their licensing agreement with
Linuxant, it should have absolutely no impact on me: I bought this TI
card while the agreement was in full effect, and consequently I paid for
the right to use my TI-based NIC with DriverLoader. I believe that
Linuxant has absolutely no right to revoke my TI-based license in
DriverLoader 2.29.

I respectfully suggest that Linuxant rethink their policy on that
matter. Stealing from your customers is not a good way to keep them.

One way to address this issue would be to look deeper at the MAC
address: if the MAC address corresponds to a TI chipset that was
manufactured while the agreement was in effect, then enable the OEM
license. If the MAC address corresponds to a TI chipset that was
manufactured after the agreement was revoked, then disable the OEM
license. This would be fair.

PS: On top of that, when the agreement with TI was signed, you guys
announced it with great fanfare at
http://www.linuxant.com/company/press_dldrti.php?PHPSESSID=67983b97f44d75ec10f9417c63aa04cb
But surprisingly, no announcement was made when TI didn't renew the
agreement. So the aforementionned URL is misleading your customers.

Thanks for reading,
-- 
Regis "HPReg" Duchesne

>
> Duchesne Family wrote:
>
>> Folks,
>>
>> o Up to Driverloader 2.28, I was a happy camper: my Linksys WPC54Gv2 NIC
>> worked perfectly in WPA-PSK mode with TKIP encryption. dldrconfig --info
>> reported:
>>
>> <<<
>> Linuxant DriverLoader for Wireless LAN devices, version 2.28
>>
>> Web configurator: listening on 127.0.0.1:18020
>>
>> Current parameters: ("dldrconfig --info")
>>
>> Wireless interface name: eth2
>>         MAC address    : 00:12:17:B1:48:6E
>>         Device instance: PCI-0000:07:00.0-104C:9066-1737:0033
>>         Device driver  : lstinds
>>         Description    : TNET1130
>>         License status : OK (OEM)
>>
>>
>> As you can see, Driverloader 2.28 properly recognized the TI chipset on
>> the NIC, and thanks to the OEM agreement between TI and Linuxant, I
>> didn't have to pay Linuxant directly to use Driverloader with this NIC.
>>
>> o But then I upgraded to Driverloader 2.29 (that is the only thing that
>> changed on my system. I verified this by switching back and forth
>> between versions 2.28 and 2.29). Now dldrconfig --info reports:
>>
>> <<<
>> Linuxant DriverLoader for Wireless LAN devices, version 2.29
>>
>> Web configurator: listening on 127.0.0.1:18020
>>
>> Current parameters: ("dldrconfig --info")
>>
>> Wireless interface name: eth2
>>         MAC address    : 00:12:17:B1:48:6E
>>         Device instance: PCI-0000:07:00.0-104C:9066-1737:0033
>>         Device driver  : lstinds
>>         Description    : TNET1130
>>         License owner  : a at b.c
>>         License key    : none
>>         License status : INVALID
>>
>> To enable the driver, enter your license information via the web
>> configurator at  http://127.0.0.1:18020/
>> or with "dldrconfig --license".
>>
>> License owner and key data must EXACTLY match the information
>> respectively
>> provided to and by Linuxant. Otherwise, license status will not be "OK"!
>>
>>
>> As you can see, and to my surprise, Driverloader 2.29 no longer honors
>> the OEM licensing agreement. What is going on?
>>
>> I hope this problem can be solved soon. In the meantime, in order to be
>> able to continue to work with version 2.29, I requested a 30-day
>> evaluation key from Linuxant, which works fine:
>>
>> <<<
>> Linuxant DriverLoader for Wireless LAN devices, version 2.29
>>
>> Web configurator: listening on 127.0.0.1:18020
>>
>> Current parameters: ("dldrconfig --info")
>>
>> Wireless interface name: eth2
>>         MAC address    : 00:12:17:B1:48:6E
>>         Device instance: PCI-0000:07:00.0-104C:9066-1737:0033
>>         Device driver  : lstinds
>>         Description    : TNET1130
>>         License owner  : celine-regis at comcast.net
>>         License key    : C7-38-2D-63-32-6F
>>         License status : OK (Expires 2005-12-05)
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>