Why Don't Companies Release Specs?

Mhrmnhrm asks: "With the recent activism by the OpenBSD crew focusing on release of documentation from the likes of Adaptec, Intel, and others, I'm left to wonder: why do companies insist on believing that by denying access to the specs, they somehow gain an advantage? It's not like telling a programmer how to communicate with the underlying hardware is going to tell them how it (the PCB/silicon) was designed, so why make this information secret?"

Comments

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[doormat]

Apparently /. feels the same way Adaptec and Intel do.

It goes something like this:

[vegetablespork]

Bill: I hear you're getting ready to release low level specs so the OpenBSD and Linux folks can make a driver.

Hardware Co. Rep.: That's right, Bill--figured it would be hard to go wrong increasing our potential market, at no cost to us. It's not like they can use the interface specs to build a card.

Bill: That's nice. You know, it'd be a real shame if your driver couldn't be WHQL certified, and users had to see a warning box when they ran with your card. Or worse, if there were mysterious blue screens . . .

Harware Co. Rep.: OK, I get your point, Bill. We'll cancel the release of the specs.

GUD

[supe]

Greed, Uncertainty and Doubt.

Nough said!

easy...

[Anne Thwacks]

Thats easy to answer ...

Because they don't want people to buy their products!

Now try a harder question.

When they do publish datasheets, why do they omit important parameters, and get the dimensions wrong?

i dunno, worked great for IBM

[Anonymous Coward]

their PC business is stronger than ever

Re:Because they're stupid?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, only understand, for access into low level specs to write the driver, it requires a lot of work reverse-engineering, which is sometimes very difficult/almost impossible for more complicated cards (eg graphics cards).

Why make this information secret?

[craXORjack]

It's not like telling a programmer how to communicate with the underlying hardware is going to tell them how it (the PCB/silicon) was designed, so why make this information secret?

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Re:Because it would cost them money

[leshert]

>>"I'm not saying they should release it out to the general public, but allow developers to read the docs.../I.

What? You guys get ID cards or something? How are you gonna distinguish developers from the "general public"?

Easy: developers know how to close HTML tags.

Re:TWEEEEEET!!!!

[RabidOverYou]

Whoooooooosh.

Re:Vendors Losing Money

[Stauf]

We're just asking which pci registers to poke to get the chip to go "bleep".

DOS emulates the 'bleep' in software with it's superior 'beep' method, called with something like:

MOV DL 7
MOV AH 2
INT 21

And it has the advantage that you don't need to know anything about these nebulous 'pci registers' of which you speak. Silly hardware programmers always trying to reinvent the wheel.

Nope

[zippthorne]

They already provide hamburgers to an open standard. Their product interfaces in the same way as all other hamburgers, directly with the mouth port.

Very fancy restaurants have proprietary interfaces: You are required to use specialized hooks (salad fork, etc.) to interface with the food which must be used in a specific way.

Chinese restaurants use the most difficult interface of all, but it's fairly simple and often fully documented on the chopsticks package.