L
>Fred Graham wrote:
>You might take a look at LonWorks technology from Echelon. The LonTalk
>protocol is such a publish/subscribe model and it is an open protocol
>(EIA-709).
Please don't be fooled by such talk - LonWorks is only open in the sense that anyone willing to sign Echelon's fairly restrictive license agreement is "open" to buy and/or pay Echelon per-unit royalties. LonWorks/LonTalk is heavily patent protected and the fact that EIA was willing to accept it as a "standard" (whereas IEEE, ISO, IEC, ANSI, etc haven't) doesn't make it
any more open. In fact knowing EIA, I'd first guess EIA-709 is just the electrical specs for creating physical media chips & little else.
Here is Echelon's *OWN VERBAGE* defining now much control they have relinquished considering EIA-709:
> ANSI/EIA 709.1-A-1999 (October 1999) is protected by
> Echelon Patents. Echelon hereby reserves all rights
> in and to Echelon Patents and no license is granted
> under Echelon Patents in this Software License Agreement.
> Echelon generally licenses Echelon Patents for ANSI/EIA
> 709.1-A-1999 (October 1999) for product development and
> commercialization pursuant to the terms of Echelon's
> standard Protocol Patent License Agreement. A copy of
> Echelon's standard Protocol Patent License Agreement
> can be obtained from Echelon's web site
> http://www.echelon.com/protocol/protocolpat.pdf.
The Echelon Protocol Patent License Agreement includes such wonderful clauses as forbidding signee's from saying anything bad about Echelon or
LonWorks (obviously I'm not a Signee), restricting which types of products can be sold to whom, and requiring implementors to notify Echelon of unit sales numbers & buy "MAC"-type ids from Echelon.
I don't begrudge Echelon from making a living off LonWorks. It has many wonderful features & a solid place in technology sales. However, lets
please stick to calling "Apples" apples & not fall for the "since it has an EIA number it must be open" fallacy.
Best Regards
Lynn August Linse, [email protected] http://www.linse.org/lynn
3 Rue Monet, Foothill Ranch CA 92610
Ph: 949-300-6337 Fx: 612-677-3253
>You might take a look at LonWorks technology from Echelon. The LonTalk
>protocol is such a publish/subscribe model and it is an open protocol
>(EIA-709).
Please don't be fooled by such talk - LonWorks is only open in the sense that anyone willing to sign Echelon's fairly restrictive license agreement is "open" to buy and/or pay Echelon per-unit royalties. LonWorks/LonTalk is heavily patent protected and the fact that EIA was willing to accept it as a "standard" (whereas IEEE, ISO, IEC, ANSI, etc haven't) doesn't make it
any more open. In fact knowing EIA, I'd first guess EIA-709 is just the electrical specs for creating physical media chips & little else.
Here is Echelon's *OWN VERBAGE* defining now much control they have relinquished considering EIA-709:
> ANSI/EIA 709.1-A-1999 (October 1999) is protected by
> Echelon Patents. Echelon hereby reserves all rights
> in and to Echelon Patents and no license is granted
> under Echelon Patents in this Software License Agreement.
> Echelon generally licenses Echelon Patents for ANSI/EIA
> 709.1-A-1999 (October 1999) for product development and
> commercialization pursuant to the terms of Echelon's
> standard Protocol Patent License Agreement. A copy of
> Echelon's standard Protocol Patent License Agreement
> can be obtained from Echelon's web site
> http://www.echelon.com/protocol/protocolpat.pdf.
The Echelon Protocol Patent License Agreement includes such wonderful clauses as forbidding signee's from saying anything bad about Echelon or
LonWorks (obviously I'm not a Signee), restricting which types of products can be sold to whom, and requiring implementors to notify Echelon of unit sales numbers & buy "MAC"-type ids from Echelon.
I don't begrudge Echelon from making a living off LonWorks. It has many wonderful features & a solid place in technology sales. However, lets
please stick to calling "Apples" apples & not fall for the "since it has an EIA number it must be open" fallacy.
Best Regards
Lynn August Linse, [email protected] http://www.linse.org/lynn
3 Rue Monet, Foothill Ranch CA 92610
Ph: 949-300-6337 Fx: 612-677-3253