USB Implementers Forum Won't Play Nice With Open Hardware 273
DeathToBill writes "Hack A Day reports on the attempts of open hardware hackers to obtain a vendor and product ID for their devices to be able to sell them as USB compliant: 'A not for profit foundation [in this case Arachnid Labs] could buy a VID, give PIDs away to foundation members making open source hardware, and we would all live in a magical world of homebrew devices that are certified as USB compliant.' The USB Implementers Forum, which controls the sale of PIDs, has lawyered up, responding to the effort with a cease and desist notice, requiring Arachnid Labs to stop 'raising funds to purchase a unique USB VID' and 'delete all references to the USB-IF, VIDs and PIDs for transfer, resale or sublicense from your website and other marketing materials.' A slight over-reaction? Or dark conspiracy against open hardware? You decide!"
The USB Implementers Forum (Score:5, Insightful)
So, The USB Implementers Forum is a cartel intended to make sure only approved corporations can play the game then?
And, once again, corporations take over everything and the rest of us can eat cake. Color me totally un-surprised.
Re:Pardon my ignorance but... (Score:2, Insightful)
afaict being compliant and buying a VID ($5000) isn't even enough to use the logo, you also need become a member($4000) or logo licensee ($3500)
I can understand that they need to get someone to pay for making the USB standard, but they could have provided something like a dummy VID so that
you don't get conflicts from people just picking random numbers
Seen it suggested else where that we should all just start using 0xF055 as VID
Clarifications (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Or missing the point entirely. (Score:5, Insightful)
RTFA. It specifically mentions three licensed vendors (Microchip, FTDI, and Openmoko) that already do exactly that. So no, this has nothing to do with quality control, and everything to do with control control.
Personally, though, I don't see the problem. VTM apparently thinks much too highly of their coveted IP, blinding them to the reality of their situation - They have "Xerox"ed themselves. Kleenex. Escalator. Genericization sucks, suckas!
USB has become so ubiquitous, products using it don't need to advertise that fact - If something comes with a visible USB A or B connector on it, end users will just plug it in without giving a second thought about what logos the box had on it.