In article <vf6ibk99u63ve5@corp.supernews.com>, Bill Tuthill
<ca_creekin@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Barry Twycross <barry@netbox.com> wrote:
> >> 
> >> And not becuase the PC industry inevitably picks the crappy product
> >> because it's a few cents cheaper?
> >
> > Its more than a few cents, its 25 cents.
> >
> > FireWire costs 25c a system to licence, USB is a flat fee of $1500
> > (possibly for ever) or maybe $2600 a year.
> 
> Who collects the 25c royalty? 

The 1394 licencing association. <http://www.1394la.com>.

> I thought Firewire had become a standard, IEEE 1394, which appears to
> be available on Linux (www.linux1394.org) for free or perhaps with
> copyleft, I dunno.

The hardware's already payed the licence. System is hardware system,
not software.

Just because something's standard doesn't mean its not got patent
issues. Other technologies have similar licencing schemesm try the MPEG
licencing association. <http://www.mpegla.com>

-- 
Barry
Barry@netbox.com                       <http://www.netbox.com/barry>
                           ------
             (I should put something down here).