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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!solace!nntp.uio.no!news.cais.net!news.ac.net!news.serv.net!solaris.cc.vt.edu!not-for-mail From: erik@fenris.campus.vt.edu () Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Why to not buy Matrox Millennium Date: 26 Mar 1996 15:49:53 GMT Organization: A random machine somewhere Lines: 18 Message-ID: <4j93n1$4jj@solaris.cc.vt.edu> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j3muv$34m@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <4j3v64$1rq@virtech.aib.com> <4j7dg2$t3t@moacs11.moacs.indiv.nl.net> <4j8s8a$q8b@newstand.syr.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: fenris.campus.vt.edu NNTP-Posting-User: erik X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:13612 comp.os.linux.development.system:19938 comp.os.linux.x:27505 comp.os.linux.hardware:34231 comp.os.linux.setup:47029 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:279 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2760 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2539 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:15932 Mark Levitt (melevitt@syr.edu) wrote: : >> : >> 1) It's illegal. : This is not, contrary to what everyone seems to think, illegal. Even in the : US. It IS however, probably a violation of the license agreement that comes : with Matrox's drivers. It's not a criminal act. It may be actionable in : civil court though as a contractual violation. Shrinkwrap contracts are not enforceable. Not to mention reverse engineering is fair-use, as per copyright law, so a contract -can-not- forbid this. : HOWEVER, as has been pointed out, you don't need to reverse engineer the : drivers! What would that get you anyway? We'd know how to write drivers for : Windows 95? No, what needs to be done is to figure out what code to use for Finding the hardware interface requires reverse engineering the drivers.