[MPlayer-users] Re: best graphical card for mplayer

[Jonathan Rogers]

D Richard Felker III wrote:
> Maybe you think it's fair that they get away with advertising their
> products as doing things which they really can't/don't do, by
> emulating missing features with the drivers? IMO the two biggest
> reasons they don't release specs are to cover up lies in the
> advertising and to cover up infringement on (usually bogus) patents.

I'm sure companies get away with advertising features their products 
don't have, but do you know that Nvidia and ATI are doing this? Maybe 
they are, but I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure 
you're right that there are sometimes shady reasons for not releasing 
specs. There are undoubtedly many bogus patents involved.

> 
> Releasing a product without the necessary information to use it (and
> this includes "supported" platforms like windows too, since eventually
> nvidia will go out of business and there'll be windows 2010 with a new
> driver architecture (and new cpu instruction set too) and no one will
> be able to use their old geforce) is a scam, plain and simple.
> Covering up your false claims about what your hardware can do with
> secret emulation in software? That's a scam too. This is a classic
> case of corporate crime, and it needs to be stopped.

I certainly agree that the more specs released the better, but I don't 
think it's fair to hold a company accountable for what might happen when 
it hypothetically goes out of business at some undetermined future date. 
If you have an agreement with the company that they will provide certain 
support for a certain period of time, they are obligated. Does buying a 
$50 video card imply such an agreement? If so, how long does it last?

It seems to me that hardware manufacturers usually make claims that a 
certain product will work with certain current operating systems. Unless 
the product fails to work in the situations the manufacturer claims, 
it's not fraud. Not releasing specs is failing to serve their customers 
the best they could, but it's not a scam.

Jonathan Rogers