[LinuxBIOS] pciE spec

[Robinson Tryon]

On Jan 7, 2008 12:46 PM, ron minnich <rminnich at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 7, 2008 9:43 AM, Tom Sylla <tsylla at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > You can buy the mindshare PCIe book (they have electronic versions,
> > too) to get a regurgitation of most of the information in the
> > specification.
> >
>
> OK, will buy the book.
>
> I actually got admonished by a PCI guy several years ago when I
> complained on openib mailing list about the way PCI SIG handles the
> spec. "it's no longer members-only" I was told, "you can just download
> it".
>
> Hence I am disappointed to find out said PCI guy was wrong.

Next time ask for a link and a license *immediately*.  That way you
either get the spec (Best Outcome) or it becomes immediately apparent
that the spec is not actually open (Consolation Prize).

This reminds me of when I trying to get free, open access to Adobe's
Flash and FLV file format specifications.  While doing research
online, several people tried to convince me that the spec was "open"
and that I could just get it "from over here or there," however no one
could ever give me specifics.  When I finally got through to actual
people at Adobe (product managers and engineers), I was convinced that
their file formats were, in fact, closed, and that they had no
intention of allowing open access.

So yeah -- get it in writing, or it doesn't mean a thing.