[hsflinux] I'm not complaining

[azajac at vif.com]

I have a few reservation to clear up before purchasing your driver.  I do not
use Microsoft products because I do not agree with the licensing.  I do not
consent to Microsoft reserving the right to snoop into my machine for whatever
reason they may have.  I do not oppose closed-source software, I just find it
more advantageous to use open-sourced software.  I do not use linux just because
it is free of charge.  I use linux because it runs better than Windows for me.

That being said, I had no problem with your driver until now.  The closed-source
proprietary code seems equivalent to the proprietary controller chip in a Topic
Semicondutor or a US Robotics hardware modem and I am not opposed to using one.

The Controller chip in a hardware modem will still function after a kernel
upgrade.  Using your driver, if I upgrade my kernel in a year or so I may have
to purchase another licence from you.  I would like to have unlimited upgrades
for the one piece of hardware for which I buy the driver.

I realize that the money I paid for the modem paid for the development of
Windows drivers and not the drivers you made.  Upgrades may represent a lot of
work on your part and I can understand why you would want to limit the upgrade
policy to just one year.  However, you chose to be in the modem driver business
and the fact is that people only expect to pay for something once.

I would prefer to invest in a hardware modem to save the hassle.

This brings up my second reservation.  I now have to worry about your business.
 If your company goes belly-up, users of your drivers will be stuck
high-and-dry.  Is your decision to charge for these drivers based on a proven
business strategy?  Now that Linuant is "on-the-map" have you gotten bigger and
better and more profitable projects?  Is this strategy aimed at reducing your
workload (since concievably fewer people will use the driver) without killing
the project or dropping your end of the agreement with Conexant?  If this is the
case, the future support for the driver is pretty much only in the short-term.

Lastly, I have read your page on privacy but I am unclear on how I can upgrade
the driver once I buy it.  Will I have to ask for your permission (generate
another key code) or once I generate the code, can I use it for my specific
hardware regardless of kernel, motherboard, etc...?  I have three different
linux distributions on my computer now,  will I have to register each time I
install the driver on them?

You mentioned in another post that it is the modem manufacturers and
distributers that need to be asked to support linux drivers.  Can you be more
specific?  I would be excited to petition these individuals relentlessly if it
would lead to the cost of linux drivers being included in the cost of the modem.

AZ.