4 ms·

as described, the 'relatively common' providing under-specified cards with loopback tricks to make a user think it's full-sized - surely that's breaking an expl

by brey 14y ago

as described, the 'relatively common' providing under-specified cards with loopback tricks to make a user think it's full-sized - surely that's breaking an explicit part of the contract, not to mention wilful fraud?

ChuckMcM 14y ago
Let me illustrate how the game is played. The contract says "Flash will be 128MB", card produced says "I'm 128MB" Are the contract terms met? Even if the card only has 8 million unique locations? The contract doesn't say that the card has to hold 128M unique things all at the same time, it just says that you can address 128M things in it. So we take our clever software give you 128M addressable locations but if you try to put more than 8M things in the card you'll erase one of the other things you put in there. You go through a process where you ask a number of vendors for a product that you've specified, perhaps you pick the cheapest one, and it turns out that they have an interpretation of the contract that isn't the same as you. (so they sold you an 8MB flash which pretends to be 128M flash). Your next step is to get them to 'fix' it, and they will, they will say "Oh we didn't realize you wanted to store 128M different things at once, we can do that too! That will by $Y" except that $Y is anywhere from 2% to 15% higher than the second or third lowest bid you got earlier. So this manufacturer will tell you with a completely straight face about how sorry they were for mistaking what you wanted, and how its perfectly reasonable that some people really only need about 8MB of unique things, but since you have a relationship with these folks now you get to the 'real' product you wanted (128M flash) and you end up paying more for that than you would have with a different vendor at the start. They have 'won' this round, you have lost. If you know this is how the game is played you write your contracts differently, you write : "128M Flash, which can hold 128M unique pieces of information at the same time that can be read back at a minimum of x bits per second and written at a minimum of Y bits per second, and can be re-written at least Z times at all temperatures between 0 and 50 degrees C and in the presense or absence of any magnetic field up to x Gauss, to be measured using the following tests on the following equipment that will be supplied by me and cannot be changed by the manufacturer, and will be inspected every 30 days by an agent I appoint who does not work for the vendor." And then they know you've played the game before.
- brey 14y ago
  cute :) I have my doubts that shipping 8MB cards in this way when contracted to deliver 128MB would be accepted by a chinese court - it just probably wouldn't reach court most of the time, especially when dealing with a westerner who would just learn some kind of lesson and move on.

by brey 14y ago

ChuckMcM 14y ago

Let me illustrate how the game is played. The contract says "Flash will be 128MB", card produced says "I'm 128MB" Are the contract terms met? Even if the card only has 8 million unique locations? The contract doesn't say that the card has to hold 128M unique things all at the same time, it just says that you can address 128M things in it. So we take our clever software give you 128M addressable locations but if you try to put more than 8M things in the card you'll erase one of the other things you put in there. You go through a process where you ask a number of vendors for a product that you've specified, perhaps you pick the cheapest one, and it turns out that they have an interpretation of the contract that isn't the same as you. (so they sold you an 8MB flash which pretends to be 128M flash). Your next step is to get them to 'fix' it, and they will, they will say "Oh we didn't realize you wanted to store 128M different things at once, we can do that too! That will by $Y" except that $Y is anywhere from 2% to 15% higher than the second or third lowest bid you got earlier. So this manufacturer will tell you with a completely straight face about how sorry they were for mistaking what you wanted, and how its perfectly reasonable that some people really only need about 8MB of unique things, but since you have a relationship with these folks now you get to the 'real' product you wanted (128M flash) and you end up paying more for that than you would have with a different vendor at the start. They have 'won' this round, you have lost. If you know this is how the game is played you write your contracts differently, you write : "128M Flash, which can hold 128M unique pieces of information at the same time that can be read back at a minimum of x bits per second and written at a minimum of Y bits per second, and can be re-written at least Z times at all temperatures between 0 and 50 degrees C and in the presense or absence of any magnetic field up to x Gauss, to be measured using the following tests on the following equipment that will be supplied by me and cannot be changed by the manufacturer, and will be inspected every 30 days by an agent I appoint who does not work for the vendor." And then they know you've played the game before.

brey 14y ago
cute :) I have my doubts that shipping 8MB cards in this way when contracted to deliver 128MB would be accepted by a chinese court - it just probably wouldn't reach court most of the time, especially when dealing with a westerner who would just learn some kind of lesson and move on.