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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