On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 01:52:20PM -0400, Alan Stern wrote: > On Thu, 26 May 2011, Sarah Sharp wrote: > > > On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 10:33:37AM -0400, Alan Stern wrote: > > > On Thu, 26 May 2011, Greg KH wrote: > > > > > > > And the USB-IF gives us MAJOR crap[1] about Linux developers > > > > participating in the specification work, yet other operating systems > > > > require horrible hardware hacks like this in order just to have them to > > > > work with their platforms. > > > > > > ... > > > > > > > [1] They just kicked some Linux kernel developers out of a working group > > > > for a new USB device specification because they don't trust us to abide > > > > by the legal agreements we signed. If I was a paranoid person, I would > > > > think that some company was out to get us because we showed them up > > > > again with USB support first-to-market. > > > > > > Is there any hope of improving matters by filing a formal complaint? > > > > Well, it would probably just get reviewed by the USB-IF board of > > directors, which basically consists of members from companies who pay > > the most money to get on the board. HP, Intel, LSI, Microsoft, Rensas > > (formerly NEC), and ST-Ericsson. All big companies with sort of a split > > personality when it comes to Linux support, with the exception of one. > > I think we'd have to get some allies within those companies to speak to > > the USB-IF board members first for our compliant to be heard. > > Okay, there may be barriers, but will it hurt to try? Or is it really > a case of outside developers not being allowed because they are neither > employees of nor contractors with the USB-IF member companies? I can > understand the board not wanting to allow that. That's the given reason. The USB-IF membership form says that only employees or contractors can participate. But I think they only require that because, legally, there is no retribution method for a member company to pursue if their non-employee does something like leak draft specs. If they're not employees, you can't fire them or anything. That goes back to Greg's comment about the USB-IF thinking non-employees are harder to bind to the Linux Foundation's legal agreement. Sarah Sharp -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-usb" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
