[linux-audio-user] Re: [linux-audio-dev] RME is no more

[Florin Andrei]

On Fri, 2004-11-26 at 01:20 +0100, CK wrote:

> I still don't see the point, the GPL _protects_ their IP rights

It only protects the source of the driver.

> if I 
> was the evil corporation trying to rip off rme I could aswell rip the
> thing apart and reverse engineer the code and the protocol, might still
> be cheaper than doing the r&d work. 

You're close.
It's most expensive to do your own R&D.
It's a bit cheaper to reverse engineer the products.
It's a lot more cheaper to just grab a GPL'd product and learn from it.

That's why companies are wary of releasing GPL drivers.

-- 
Florin Andrei

http://florin.myip.org/