[aprssig] OT: DV Dongle a D-Star codec on USB.

[Scott Miller]

> Owning an AMBE vocoder is like buying a font for your word processor.
> You can't copy it and resell it, but you can purchase it and you can
> use it anyway you want.  Microsoft can't sell you a font, then tell
> you it can't be used to write a ham radio club newsletter.

And if you read the license agreement that came with your word 
processor, it probably says something about not using it in weapons 
systems, nuclear power, life support, and so on (see the Sun Java 
license for an example).  My point was that if DVSI so chose, they could 
add a clause to the AMBE license agreement (it's in the AMBE2000 
datasheet, check it out) that would preclude amateur use for future 
applications.  I'm sure previously sold devices would be fine, but when 
they own the IP, they make the rules on licensing.

Of course, that would be a stupid thing for them to do, but I'm hoping 
to get my point across that we're entirely at the mercy of one company 
for all things D-STAR, and from what I can tell it's not a particularly 
friendly company.

Who knows... maybe a few years from now AMBE will have fallen out of 
favor in commercial circles, DVSI will go out of business, and some 
vulture IP firm will buy up AMBE and decide to squeeze whatever extra 
revenue they can out of the hams that are still locked in to the system...

Scott
N1VG