> >> That's how it's supposed to be. > > Leslie> You mean that's how IDEMA specs read. Unless there is some > Leslie> legal agreement signed by the drive manufacturer (or whomever) > Leslie> requiring adherence to a certain spec, they can do just about > Leslie> anything they want. Compliance with a published spec is great, > Leslie> but unless some licensing agreement is in place, it isn't > Leslie> enforceable. > > Oracle is not a member so I'm not sure what (if any) leverage is > available as part of the IDEMA membership agreement. > > I do think, however, that you are underestimating the power of industry > associations and standards bodies. System manufacturers, enterprise > customers and governments absolutely refuse to buy things that are not > compliant. So this is not about whether you can legally cut corners. > It is about being able to sell your product in the first place. So a company like Apple could never compete with IBM? There are myriad examples of non-compliant software and hardware being developed in a standards-based environment yet selling very well. I think maybe you are underestimating the vast buying power of individual consumers and non-enterprise businesses. The consumer sector has much different requirements than industry, government, or the military. If a non-compliant product is less expensive than a compliant one, it will often nonetheless sell very well in the private sector. The number of people who check for an IDEMA certification before grabbing a drive off the shelf at Best Buy or Office Depot is zilch. > In this particular case IDEMA is an organization founded and run by the > drive manufacturers themselves. They collaborated on the LBA spec and > have all publicly stated that they'll adhere to it. It is not a > requirement that was forced upon them by an external entity. Although > it was, of course, motivated by customers unhappy with the annoying > variation in LBA count between brands and even drive models... Well, first of all, in this very thread someone gave an example of a modern drive which is apparently non-compliant. If it is true, then your argument is clearly less than convincing. Even if not, however, voluntary adherence to a set of standards is just that: voluntary. If a manufacturer feels it is economically prudent to violate such standards, there is nothing stopping them, and if adhering to a standard in any particular instance costs the company more money than producing a non-standard product, there's a good chance they may decide to violate the standard. I'm not arguing against standards, here. I'm just saying there's a good chance of encountering non-compliant items in any consumer oriented industry. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
