This IS the case when it comes to troubleshooting automobiles.
Manufacturer's will only sell the codes to authorized (i.e. dealer) repair
shops, leaving independents out in the cold when it comes to diagnosing car
problems, which more and more is done via computer (assuming you have the
firmware to do it).  Legal wrangling is taking place as we speak.

John Lee



At 03:59 PM 4/21/03 EDT, Wayne R. Boyer wrote:
>
>In a message dated 4/15/03 6:06:25 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
>writes:
>
>
>> I just wanted to pass along an article about a practice that seems to to
>> be prevalent among large companies...
>>
>> http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/04/11/15gripe_1.html
>
>
>Very interesting!  I too recently bought a used Cisco router via ebay.  There
>is a very grey area with regards to firmware and licenses for such code.
>Cisco's router code is essentially firmware when installed / loaded into a
>router.  Of course, the hardware is totally useless without the code.  This
>seems to be a growing tactic by hardware vendors to 'license' citical
>software/firmware is such a maner that you cannot transfer the 'license' and
>thus, the hardware that depends upon it becomes from a legal standpoint,
>totally useless on the secondary/used market.  A deliberate tactic to try and
>destroy the used resale value of a customer's equipment.
>
>So who would like to buy a car with lots of electronics in it that you had to
>'license' via a non-tranferable license and when it came time to trade-in the
>car for a new model, your trade-in was valueless without the 'license'?
>
>The more publicity these kinds of tactics get, the more pressure vendors will
>have to be more customer friendly.
>
>Wayne (still like my little router though - seems to work fine with it's
>illegal sw)
>
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