Tim: >> Of course, you don't need access to the source code to be able to do >> that, hackers have been working that sort of stuff out for themselves >> right from the start. Dave Ihnat: > And today that kind of hacking may be considered illegal if the > manufacturer decided to press charges. Depending on what you're talking about, that's a load of bollocks. US legislation has no bearing in other countries. Modifying something to do what you want is not the same handing out "the secret code" to others, nor is it of anyone else's concern if what you do doesn't adversely affect someone else. >> All in all, any manufacturer claiming your reasons for deliberately >> knobbling a product, or withholding information, is just making silly >> excuses. > You DO understand the difference, don't you? In the case that you hack > the interface and create a driver that allows them to turn the hardware > into a death ray and incinerate San Francisco, it's not TI's fault? > And it is, if they gave you the information that permitted you to do this? > You _are_ just arguing for form's sake, right? If there was any arguing just for the sake of it in these messages, it was your deliberately ludicrously silly example, above. -- (This PC runs FC4, my others FC5 & FC6, in case that's important to the thread) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.