[TenTec] open source

[Duane A Calvin]

The way I understand it, if someone reverse engineers the code, and then
uses *any* of the algorithms or code sequences anywhere in his "new"
code, he has violated copyright - assuming TT copyrights their code.   On
the other hand, if the algorithms are protected by patent, then there is
another problem the unfortunate reverse engineer.  Now, if nothing is
copyrighted or patented, then it's the "trade secret" route that is being
taken, and that is a double-edged sword that could bite TT.  Probably the
best question to ask is, what is ethical?  Is it ethical to reverse
engineer someone else's considerable investment in time/effort for your
own pecuniary interest?  I would suggest it is not.  If you want to try
your hand at rig control microcode, be a man and start from scratch!

        73,  Duane


On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 10:52:12 -0400 "n4lq" <n4lq at iglou.com> writes:
> Just curious and I don't know much about reverse engineering but just 
> 
> suppose someone were able to reverse engineer the Jupiter or Orion 
> and 
> come up with the necessary code, Would there be legal grounds for 
> TenTec 
> to sue?
> Steve
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Ten-Tec Inc. Amateur Radio Sales" <sales at tentec.com>
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 09:16:57 -0400
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] open source
> 
> > At 04:12 PM 9/23/04 -0700, you wrote:
> > >  I think TT has a moral
> > >obligation to either make it all happen or let someone else have 
> a
> > crack at
> > >it.  There's no shame in this -- TT has not failed, rather they 
> have
> > led the
> > >way. They fail only if they disappoint -- and I for one would be 
> very
> > >disappointed if they made a radio, wouldn't fix it and allowed 
> no-one
> > else
> > >to fix it either.  Hopefully they're much smarter than to let 
> that
> > happen.
> > 
> > What is not understood about this discussion is that the DSP code 
> takes
> > a serious engineering effort to create and cannot be simply given 
> away
> > for anyone (including companies that compete with us) to use.  We 
> have
> > lots of competition both in the amateur radio and non-amateur 
> radio
> > arenas; to simply give away our intellectual property would let 
> others
> > use our engineering effort to their advantage.  Perhaps years from 
> now,
> > when current equipment is discontinued the possibility of making 
> it
> > available for use and experimentation could be discussed - but in 
> the
> > short term, there is no possibility of this happening.
> > 
> > Leaving aside the entire discussion of what a project it would be 
> to
> > try
> > to provide tech support for people troubleshooting their own 
> version of
> > our code to make their radio do something specific and/or modify 
> the
> > existing radio.
> > 
> > We do custom engineering work all the time.  There are customized
> > versions of DSP radios that we sell as off-the-shelf items out in
> > circulation
> > right now - and there was a significant cost incurred for 
> engineering
> > time
> > to create these items.   The eventual owners of these custom 
> radios
> > paid a hefty price to use our engineering time to modify our
> > intellectual
> > property to get exactly what they wanted.
> > 
> > Slightly different topic:
> > I've been following the discussion about the recent lack of 
> Jupiter
> > updates
> > with a bit of trepidation.
> > 
> > We've taken a lot of heat over "look how many firmware updates
> > there have been for this rig..." and the converse is "After three
> > years,
> > there haven't been recent updates coming for this rig..." - that's 
> hard
> > to
> > win either way.  Yes, updates for the Orion will continue until 
> some
> > future date.  No, we haven't done any updates for the Jupiter 
> since
> > fall of '03 after three years of issuing them.  That doesn't mean 
> we
> > won't do them in future, however.
> > 
> > Scott Robbins W4PA
> > Amateur Radio Product Manager, Ten-Tec, Inc.
> > 
> > 
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------
> > Ten-Tec, Inc., 1185 Dolly Parton Pkwy, Sevierville, TN 37862 USA
> >    Contact Mon-Fri Eastern: Office/Tech (865) 453-7172 9 am-5 pm.
> >    Repair (865) 428-0364 8-4.  Sales (800) 833-7373 9 am-5:30 pm.
> >    Fax (865) 428-4483 24 hrs.  Visit us at 
> <http://www.tentec.com>
> >    Email:  New product sales/product info         
> sales at tentec.com
> >               Service department                        
> > service at tentec.com
> >    While we make every effort to answer email in an expedient 
> manner,
> >    the telephone is a much more efficient tool for getting a 
> quicker
> > and
> >    more complete answer to your inquiries.  Thanks!
> >    
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > TenTec mailing list
> > TenTec at contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> > 
> 
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> 


Duane Calvin, AC5AA
Austin, Texas