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> My guess: if the bitstream format was documented competitors would know how the device works and be able to prove their patents are being violated. Maybe. Th
by UncleOxidant 3y ago
> My guess: if the bitstream format was documented competitors would know how the device works and be able to prove their patents are being violated.
Maybe. There certainly is a lot of "secret sauce" energy around the bitstream formats. Primarily I think they guard the bitstream format to help ensure vendor lockin. Imagine if there were open tools that could easily target FPGAs from multiple vendors so that users could choose the most cost effective solution. The FPGA vendors don't want that.
- someguydave 3y agoYep, FPGAs would become cheap commodities like DRAM
- PaulHoule 3y agoNo,an FPGA is always going to be a lot bigger than an ASIC that does the same thing not least because it the ASIC does not have to support programmability.