[Info-vax] FTDI driver for windows

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 6/19/2019 3:11 AM, johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> On Wednesday, 19 June 2019 00:53:35 UTC+1, Arne Vajhøj  wrote:
>> On 6/18/2019 12:39 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>> On 6/18/19 10:51 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>>> On 6/18/2019 9:36 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>>>> John E. Malmberg <wb8tyw at qsl.net_work> wrote:
>>>>>> On 6/18/2019 7:57 AM, VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>>>>>> <snip>
>>>>>>> The problem is in WEENDOZE.  The USB is an FTDI chip.  When I plug
>>>>>>> in the
>>>>>>> altimeter, WEENDOZE proclaims a new device.  Then, WEENDOZE claims
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>> it's gone.  Then, it proclaims a new device.  Lather, rinse,
>>>>>>> repeat.  All
>>>>>>> of this is before ever launching the software to download any data.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is the standard behaviour of a counterfeit FTDI device.  The
>>>>> windows
>>>>> driver is written by FTDI and will deliberately shut down counterfeits.
>>>>>
>>>>> You may blame Windows for this, but it's doing exactly what it was
>>>>> designed
>>>>> to do.
>>>>
>>>> This reminds me of the Intel compilers that would check the CPU, and
>>>> slow down when running on AMD CPUs.
>>>>
>>>> The end user won't know what components are used, and is an innocent
>>>> victim of such practices.  Personally, while I might understand, I
>>>> feel that it's a rather poor practice.  Vendors like that are to be
>>>> avoided.
>>>
>>> Chinese "vendors" who steal intellectual property and then use it
>>> to manufacture cheap knockoffs are to be avoided.
>>
>> The key question here should be: is it legal for another manufacturer
>> to produce a FTDI chip or not?
>>
>> No => software rejecting it seems fair
>>
>> Yes => software rejecting it seems problematic
> 
> Does the question "is it legal for another manufacturer to
> produce an FTDI chip" have a consistent answer regardless
> of location?

That is of course a good question.

It is my impression that the world via WTO and other orgs
has made huge progress towards harmonizing such rules.

But there are probably still some differences. And there
are certainly differences in enforcement.

Arne