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From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.x,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: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 22:42:32 -0700
Organization: Me
Lines: 87
Message-ID: <31733348.7CA5B09C@lambert.org>
References: <4joi3n$bvb@news.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> <stephenkDp7nHo.369@netcom.com> <4jv7c9$m5t@park.uvsc.edu> <stephenkDpCsvp.LBu@netcom.com> <4kfkb2$dgs@coyote.Artisoft.COM> <Dpns87.4A0@ccc.amdahl.com> <31702DB7.72CFF4F4@lambert.org> <4ksmva$ad5@miso.cs.uq.edu.au>
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Warwick Allison wrote:
]
] Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> writes:
]
] >It also seems logical that commercial users (ie: people who spend
] >money) making complaints to their vendors and to Matrox ...
] >would have ... more effect than angry threads by Linux and BSD
] >proponents.
]
] Rubbish. Matrox produce hardware. Free Unix users *LOVE*
] hardware, and some spend more than the average user. They also
] have the ear of many many many other users.
]
] Matrox will lose N sales due to this thread, no amount of pandering
] to Xinside's little monopoly is going to change that. The Matrox
] Millennium will in time be superceded by a competitors product,
] and life will go on.
I claim "N" is relatively small, such that N * percentage margin
per card is still smaller than the amount of money Matrox believes
it is worth to protect their intellectual property in the first
place.
This is why I said that the "problem" must be approached by first
proving to Matrox that they aren't gaining IP protection from
their policy.
Then you have to subtract the people who are irrevocably now
"anti-Matrox" from this thread from the possible win-back,
and multiply the remainder by the percentage margin. If this
number is larger than what it costs Matrox to change internal
policy, then the policy will be changed. Otherwise, the policy
will stay.
At best, you are increasing "N" by some relatively tiny amount
multiplied by the margin accelartor for the XFree86 market and
the people who take their advice, increasing the value relative
the the value they place on their IP (you will probably never
exceed that value, however, since it is inclusive of their
whole market).
At worst, you are increasing the number of irrevocably "anti-Matrox"
people, reducing the buyback value for a policy change.
The cost to you of educating Matrox about the effects of
interface disclosure (which can be legally disassembled by
Joerg or one of the other EU video card programmers reading
this list anyway) vis-a-vis their IP rights remains constant.
The cost of the policy buyoff via win-back of the market you
purport to represent, on the other hand, is steadily increasing,
the longer you put forth reasonable-*seeming* arguments.
In other words, you are fighting the battle the wrong way.
This is probably the last time I'll be willing to explain this.
] Me: I'd heard of the MM wizbang WRAM blah-blah graphics card,
] but now I know not to touch them.
For what it is worth, I will not buy any hardware for which I
can not obtain technical documentation. This is not a universal
boycott: I am still in the group who would buy their hardware
if their policy were to change (the loyalty buy-back group).
I didn't need your harranguing, or for that matter, such a long
post by David (though his served to educate people about how they
might wish to group themselves, if they hadn't considered it before),
to put me in this group.
It's people like me who will pay for the policy change. People
like you should stick to educating Matrox on the interaction of
interface disclosure and trade secret information instead of
complaining loudly about the status quo without putting forth any
(productive) effort to change things.
Regards,
Terry Lambert
terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.