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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (82008)	6/26/2000 9:22:00 PM
From: Earlie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

SB: While we don't know for sure, one can certainly at least "suspect" that RMBS may well have taken advantage of the JEDEC meetings. Hitachi isn't the only player that hints at such a scenario. I have maintained for a long while now that it makes no sense whatsoever for RMBS to antagonize the very people who are expected to make the products that use RMBS's (supposed) technology. That is just one of the many reasons why I think RMBS as a functional entity (as opposed to a stock manipulation) is a dead duck. I agree with you on many points. In a nutshell, I expect that already, the memory industry has assigned resources to quickly develop "work arounds". As you note, RMBS is regarded with much distaste in the industry. Best, Earlie

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (82008)	6/27/2000 4:10:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

skeeter, earlie & all, Just noticed the "cool post", and had to second your points & earlie's. Rambus is quite a phenomena, and by all indications, quite a scam. As earlie responded, as a business it doesn't particularly make sense at this point, since the people they rely on to build their so-called product now totally hate them. They (the memory makers) probably hated them enough before this patent nonsense started up, for the obvious technical reasons that Rambus memory is apparently difficult to fabricate and provides no useful performance gains. Now that the money for nothing hardball game is on in earnest, you can imagine how happy all the memory guys are to see the Rambus flacks come calling. I'd imagine there is absolutely zero technical interchange between Rambus and any influential memory maker at this point. Various Rambus flacks make out like drdram is somehow going to win in the marketplace after this, which I find truly humorous. Which is, of course, not to say that RMBS is necessarily a bad investment. Stupid patents have been upheld before, the system is seriously out of whack at this point. It was disappointing to see Hitachi fold. There were some stories that Hitachi is trying to sell off its memory business anyway, which may have had something to do with it. I hope, for the sake of the IT industry and computer users in general, that this stuff gets resolved quickly, and I hope that for the economic benefit of everybody but RMBS holders, Rambus doesn't win. I don't handicap legal issues, though. All I know is that among engineers and geeks, Rambus is becoming more of a dirty word all the time. Cheers, Dan.

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (82008)	6/27/2000 4:27:00 PM
From: jim kelley	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Skeeter Bug Once again you reveal your lack of business sense. You sound like a social worker complaining that life is unfair. "* significant amounts of rmbs' patents will be deemed in the public domain (all those rewritten patents after sitting in on industry meetings to get the goods will be tossed)" There is no evidence to support the notion that RAMBUS' patents came out of the JEDEC meetings. On it face, it is a ridiculous position to take. "* significant portions of rmbs' patents will remain valid. how significant is key. it c/b major or it could be minor. prior art from the dram guys will be flowing to court like milk and honey in the land of milk and honey." Why are you not complaining about Texas Instruments which has collected billions in patent royalties and awards over the last decade by it aggressive enforcement of its DRAM patent portfolio. Instead, you are running to TI for help in beating up RAMBUS. "* rmbs has now aligned itself with the devil in the eyes of its intermediate customers." You think the semiconductor companies are saint like? <LOL> You think patent enforcement is the work of the devil? <LOL> If someone moved into your house and refused to pay rent, I suppose you would go along with their program. <g> * rmbs's licensing power will be reduced via the courts. This is silly! The patents are presumed valid and Rambs has the right to insist on payment. The courts will not interfere with this basic right. "* the dram guys will work around rmbs' limited patents if at all possible." They have a perfect right to do so. In the meantime, they should pay for the use of RMBS intellectual property. "rmbs has REALLY hurt the industry. technology sharing will be limited now. standards will be more difficult to arrive at. rmbs beats up on customers (us) trying to force us to pay higher prices for their product." It follows from your reasoning that Texas Instruments has hurt the industry the most. Texas Instruments has become famous in the IP world for its agressive assertion of its patent rights over every company in the industry. They have collected billions of dollars in royalties and awards. "rmbs sucks! too bad they can't make money based off sound business practices. they have to give away warrants, money, sit in on meetings and steal info, hide their true intentions..." RAMBS is a corporation. It has a fiduciary duty to its stock holders to enforce its patent portfolio.