[Nut-upsdev] [HCL]<Manufacturer>Powercom<Device>all ups<driver>usbhid-ups

[Jim Klimov]

On October 21, 2021 3:37:36 PM UTC, Ted Mittelstaedt via Nut-upsdev <nut-upsdev at alioth-lists.debian.net> wrote:
>Hi Jim,
>
>As a published author I'm going to jump in here and make a correction 
>you might think it small but it's extremely important.
>
>Under WIPO and copyright law setout therein, facts ARE NOT 
>copyrightable.  Powercom cannot dictate terms to us or to anyone on how
>
>the the documentation they sent to us is used.  Only expressions are 
>copyrightable.
>
>I realize it may be hairsplitting to you.  Let me illustrate:
>
>The sentence:
>
>"The AC Adapter runs off 60Hz power"
>
>is not copyrightable.  However, the sentence:
>
>We recommend that the AC adapter be used on a power strip with surge 
>suppression"
>
>is copyrightable because it's an expression.
>
>In short, Powercom has no legal ability to exercise copyright control 
>because of any business requirement to make information available - in 
>short, they may want the old docs removed (so as to enhance sales of
>new 
>devices or any other reason) however they have no legal authority to 
>demand this.
>
>Do not give them a legal power to do this by asking whether or not we 
>can keep the old docs up.  Under copyright law they do not have this
>power.
>
>That doesn't mean we shouldn't be nice, they asked us to remove the old
>
>docs, and while they have no legal authority to make that request we
>can 
>acknowledge that they have expressed that desire and try to honor it as
>
>much as is reasonable by prominently marking the old docs as obsolete. 
>
>I'll assume their motivation to take the old docs down is to prevent 
>confusion among developers when there is a conflict between the old doc
>
>and the new doc.  I'm just trying to explain we can't do that since we 
>have to still support the old gear, but we can eliminate that possible 
>confusion by being explicit on what is what.
>
>Ted
>
>On 10/20/2021 12:04 PM, Jim Klimov wrote:
>> Thanks Ted,
>>
>>   that echoes my thoughts: any HW supported by NUT at some point and 
>> with a population of units physically alive, whether marketed or 
>> supported by original vendors or not, should better be documented.
>>
>>   So if the old docs are in some way better than new one, even if 
>> explaining quirks not relevant and not documented for same-named 
>> models or firmware sold today, I believe such docs should remain 
>> available (maybe marked as old stuff, but ready for revision). After 
>> all, currently shipped drivers probably correspond to that spec?..
>>
>> @Dinow: how strict is the business/etc. requirement to make that
>older 
>> info truly unavailable? Can we keep it visible but maybe marked 
>> deprecated?
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 12:05 Ted Mittelstaedt via Nut-upsdev 
>> <nut-upsdev at alioth-lists.debian.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     Thanks, Dinow,
>>
>>
>>     I'm not a NUT admin but you posted this to a public mailing list
>>     so I'm going to just send a response to that list since it's a
>>     public posting.
>>
>>
>>     The current documentation you sent is much sparser than the older
>>     docs.  So I think the older docs are going to still be valuable
>>     for just that reason alone, as an addition to the newer current
>>     documentation.  I do not know what the admins are going to do but
>>     I would hope they merely mark the old documents as "Old" and add
>>     this to them.
>>
>>
>>     Unlike commercial software, open source software projects usually
>>     do not have the luxury of removing support for older hardware
>that
>>     is no longer in production from the manufacturer.
>>
>>
>>     As a NUT user I cannot thank you enough for supporting open
>source
>>     software projects like NUT.
>>
>>
>>     Ted
>>
>>
>>
>>     On 10/19/2021 7:28 PM, dinow via Nut-upsdev wrote:
>>>
>>>     Good Day NUT administrators
>>>
>>>     AA. My name is Dinow and the engineer of *Powercom* corporation
>>>
>>>     BB. Could you help us to :
>>>
>>>         B1. *Remove* the current list from Powercom  >>
>>>     https://networkupstools.org/ups-protocols.html
>>>     <https://networkupstools.org/ups-protocols.html>:
>>>
>>>       * USB information for BNT series
>>>       * USB information for IMPERIAL series
>>>       * USB information for SKP series
>>>       * USB information for WOW series
>>>
>>>         B2. *Add* a item and its document
>>>
>>>       * USB information for *all* Powercom's UPS
>>>       * Add attached *PDF* as its document
>>>
>>>     CC. Big Thanks for your help
>>>
>>>     If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to inform us
>>>
>>>     Sincerely yours truly, Oct. 20th
>>>
>>>     Dinow Hsieh
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>    
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>>     _______________________________________________
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>>

Thank you Ted for the explanation, indeed I did not realize such fine-print nuances, so much appreciated!

Jim
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