mapesdhs wrote:
Joe said he could do it but
only
if he had the original PROM source. He was offered kind help from PMC and Sandcraft in this regard should the opportunity arise, and IBM gave him some tech help aswell on cache issues. It's perfectly doable, but for the PROM source. Ah well, plenty of other SGI-related things to occupy our time...
I wonder what they hope to achieve by this dog in the manger attitude ? I don't mean "release the code ! Free Prommy !" I mean qualified people who are willing to sign non-disclosures. It's a small amount of effort for them in return for a reasonable gain. Yeah, I know, "if it doesn't help the bottom line then in today's economy they can't afford to waste their efforts."
Except it's a helluva lot different story when they want acceptance from the Linux community, when they want to shitcan all the people who paid good money for Irix, when
they
want something requiring good will and a positive attitude and
unpaid efforts from other people
(such as a complete free operating system which they planned to use for their own financial advantage, ahem.)
Maybe I'm an idiot optimist. I'd like to believe until proven wrong that the new management is not quite as avaricious and short-sighted as the previous group of proven fools. Perhaps some people inside the new SGI can see the value in having enthusiastic hobbyists doing things to enhance the SGI mystique and reputation.
Perhaps.