[ There's no point in *having* a Free Software Business mailing list unless we actually *use* it. So, I'm using it. BTW, in case you have lost interest and want off the mailing list, please send your request to fsb-request@asylum.sf.ca.us; don't just reply to this mail. -russ ] There's this company, see, and they've got some neat hardware. No Linux driver. No interest in a Linux driver, even in bartering for it with hardware. "We're a small company and can only afford to hit the high-volume mass markets." So, after much negotiation and badgering and signing of nondisclosures (that allow source distribution), they've agreed to give me the source code to their DOS/Windows driver. So, I guess I'm going into the hardware business. I'm going to write the Linux driver as a kernel module, and resell their hardware. My profit on writing the driver is going to come from reselling the hardware. Only way I can see to do that without relying on the goodness of people's hearts, however, is to not use the GPL. If I used the GPL, the driver would get uploaded to sunsite, and people would just buy the hardware from whomever. If I put code into the driver to check for only the hardware serial numbers that I sold, someone would "fix" the driver (and from their perspective, that's what they would be doing -- removing a bug). Even if I paid the company to slightly modify the hardware so that my driver would only work on the hardware that people purchased from me, someone would probably adapt the driver, again, fixing a bug. I just don't see any way around it: if I want to profitably write a driver for this hardware, it can't be GPL'ed. L. Peter Deutsch's FPL (Free Public License) is no help here, because the product manufacturer isn't interested in distributing the Linux driver. I don't know of anyone distributing proprietary kernel modules for Linux. I hesitate to be the first, but I figure that I'm the best person to do it. I've been writing GPL'ed programs for over a decade. I maintained the Linux kernel changes page for well over a year when no one else was doing it. I'm not trying to take monopoly profits here -- I'll be selling the hardware for the same price as the manufacturer. It'll be interesting.... -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> http://www.crynwr.com/~nelson Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | PGP ok 11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | It's no mistake to err on Potsdam, NY 13676 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | the side of freedom.