Charles M. Hannum writes:
> 
> 
>    Because the XFree86 support for my videocard is very
>    weak, I'd like to use the AcceleratedX server from XInside.  Email to them
>    resulted in a "We don't have a NetBSD version because there's no place for
>    us to advertise.  If we had that, we'd announce and release it."
> 
> That's a lie.  I told Mr. Chatfield that if there were a port that I
> would help him advertise it.  He then proceeded to send me an
> announcement of a beta test version *that didn't run on NetBSD* that
> he apparently wanted to canvas NetBSD users with.
> 
> My offer is still open, but I refuse to implicitly endorse products
> that don't even run on NetBSD.
> 
> (The story actually gets much worse, but I'm already straying from the
> topic of the list.)

I have had correspondence with Charles, Adam Glass and Herb Peyerl
about finding a NetBSD specific area that will accept commercial
postings.  I have attached below a fragment of my mail archives, in
which I describe the posting that is referenced above.  Charles
failed to read it correctly and inferred that I wanted to poat a
message that had no reference to NetBSD.  I was just giving him an
example of the file that I later posted to comp.os.linux.announce,
bsdi-users@bsdi.com (aka info.bsdi.users, I think), and to
FreeBSD-announce@FreeBSD.org.  I thought that my introductory paragraph
made it clear that I would customise the posting for the OS environment
to which is was being sent.  This was apparently sufficiently opaque
that the point was lost, and Charles took umbrage.  I probably
shouldn't have used FreeBSD as an example.  It didn't occur to me until 
just now, that this may have provoked Charles so much, that he didn't 
correctly read what I wrote.

Charles and I agree on one thing.  There is no point in my
advertising a product in a NetBSD specific area unless it addresses
NetBSD.  Because we had no NetBSD specific port, or plan, the example
does not reference NetBSD.  I saw no point in having an introductory
paragraph and also changing the file.  It was an example.  It was not
the exact posting that I intended to make.  I was trying to save the
effort of making the NetBSD specific version of the file, and I used
the generic file on which all other postings and announcements were
based.

Charles has persistently ignored every paragraph that I have written 
in which I say that he has misunderstood my intent, and he tends to 
resort to abuse.  I have a problem with Charles.

I still have no problem with committing to a NetBSD port, with a
mechanism to reach NetBSD users specifically.  We have ways to reach
all the other users of all the other OS's, with OS-specific
information (e.g, for SCO we usually stress multi-head servers,
as they don't seem too interested in performance; for XFree86 based
environments we usually stress performance, support and ease of
configuration).  We have no way to reach a NetBSD specific or even a
*BSD generic equivalent to comp.os.linux.announce, biz.sco.announce,
freebsd-announce@freebsd.org, Linux Journal, Open Computing, System
Admin Journal, SCO Magazine, etc.

I've been asking the users that request a NetBSD port, since, ohh,
October or November, if they know where I can post to reach NetBSD
users.  No-one can recommend a direct equivalent to the other OS's.  
It's that simple and it should be easy to fix.  For example, a simple 
policy change to comp.os.386bsd.announce to accept commercial postings.  
Heaven knows, it's hardly the highest volume news group on the net, is 
it? ;-)

The Beta program is still open to people with the newly supported cards, 
but it's really rather late to add a new OS at this point.  We'd probably
have to add it in another month or so, after this release is ready to
ship, if anyone can suggest a good place to post.  I do have criteria
for a "good place", and I'm willing to share that, especially if
anyone wants to help create a forum for commercial software for
NetBSD users.

Extract from my mail archives (some middle stuff omitted, if you
really care, I can include thst - I have nothing that I want to hide):

>From jdc Fri Nov 18 16:32:30 1994
Subject: Re: AccelX Server
To: mycroft@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 16:32:30 +0000 (MST)
In-Reply-To: <9411182232.AA08148@goldman.gnu.ai.mit.edu> from "mycroft@gnu.ai.mit.edu" at Nov 18, 94 05:32:15 pm
...
I'm just about to post, looking for Beta testers for our next
release.  I know where to do that for the other OS's.  Where am I
*welcome* to post for NetBSD?  If I can find a place, I can possibly
add NetBSD to the list of supported products in this release cycle,
around Beta 3.  That'll be minimal testing for the OS.  Otherwise we
could try for 2.0, which will probably follow as soon as the 1.2
cycle is complete.

I've appended the current text of the announcement I'll be making.
This will be modified to fit into the environment that I post to.
For example, I've posted a couple of times to the FreeBSD mailing
lists, so I'll probably tune it a bit for the requests I see on their
mailing lists, and I'll probably add some personality-specific
comments about or from frequent FreeBSD posters that use our product.
...

           *-------------------------------------------*
           |                                           |
           |         ---+++===***===+++---             |
           |          Beta Testers Sought              |
           |         ---+++===***===+++---             |
           |                                           |
           |              Commercial                   |
           |    High Performance X Server for Intel    |
           |             UNIX Systems                  |
           |                                           |
           |  Test focus:                              |
           |                                           |
           | o  1280x1024x24bpp packed, accelerated    |
           |    (Mach64, etc)                          |
           | o  New S3 chips (Vision [89]68, 866,      |
           |    TRIO32, 64)                            |
           | o  Avance 2301, 2228, 2101                |
           | o  Revised Matrox, Tseng, S3 support      |
           | o  Compaq Qvision 1024 & 1280             |
           | o  Support for multiple PCI boards        |
           | o  Touchscreen support <Elographics       |
           |    DuraTouch 280>                         |
           | o  Improved Hardware Cursor support       |
           |    (dynamic HW<->SW Cursor switching)     |
           |                                           |
           *-------------------------------------------*

X Inside Incorporated sells a high performance X Server for Intel
based UNIX Systems.  We are looking to expand our Beta test group to
include coverage for the additional chipsets and input device.
We expect at least two Beta releases before we move to a release.

>From today, if you buy Release 1.1, we'll upgrade you to 1.2 for free.
This is not a promotion - it's a fact of life that announcing a product
with no upgrade path causes sales of current products to drop :-(

Operating Systems supported for the first Beta test are:

        BSDI 1.1
        FreeBSD 1.1, 2.0
        ISC 4.1
        Linux 1.0, 1.1
        SCO 3.2.4 with X
        SCO ODT 3.0 and up
        SINIX-D & SINIX-Z
        Solaris 2.4
        UNIX System V Release 4.0 & derivatives (e.g. AT&T/NCR)
        UNIX System V Release 4.2 & derivatives
        UnixWare 1.0 to 1.2

We would like to hear from people used to recording their observations, 
to help test the next release of our product in a range of conditions.  
We are interested in testing in the following environments:

        Users with the following graphics chipsets and 4MB on-board
        for 1280x1024, or any memory size for 640x480, 24bpp packed, 
        (accelerated where supported by the graphics engine):

                ATI mach32, mach64
                Avance Logic 2228, 2301
                Cirrus Logic 5424, 5426, 5428, 5429, 5430, 5434
                Oak Technologies OTI087
                S3 801, 805, 805i, 864, 911, 924, 928
                Tseng ET4000, ET4000/W32, ET4000/W32i, ET4000/W32p

        Users with S3 (especially the new Trio and Vision 866, 868,
                968 chips), Avance, Compaq Qvision 1024 & Qvision 1280,
                Tseng ET4000 and the ET4000/W32 family.

        Users with two or more PCI graphics boards.

	Users that tend to use fancy (read big) cursors on boards that
	do have a hardware cursor.

If you are interested in taking part in the Beta test, please send
email to accelx-beta@xinside.com with the following information:

Name:
Email address:
Phone number:

Hardware details -
CPU and speed:
Amount of RAM[MB]:

Operating System:       FreeBSD 1.1/FreeBSD 2.0/Linux 1.0.?/Linux 1.1.?
                        SCO ODT 3.0/etc, etc, etc.
Swap space[MB]:

Applications in use -
Are you writing your own software?
What software will you be using to exercise the Server?

Graphics board details -
Maker (e.g. Diamond, ATI, Matrox, etc):
Model (e.g. Imagine-128, Stealth 32):
Graphics chip (if known):
RAMDAC (if known):
Graphics memory[MB]:
Bus used for graphics board: ISA/EISA/MCA/VESA/PCI

Mouse -
# of buttons: 2, 3, other!
Connection type: Serial, bus, keyboard|PS/2

Digitiser tablet:
Make:
Model:

Touchscreen:
Make:
Model:

Testing experience -
Can you give some idea of what type of testing you've done in the past?
Can you identify a bug in the software you are using now - could you
report it below, so we can assess your skills?

Thanks for the bandwidth.

Cheers, JeremyC.
-- 
Jeremy Chatfield, +1(303)470-5302, FAX:+1(303)470-5513, email:jdc@xinside.com
        X Inside Inc, P O Box 10774, Golden, CO 80401-0610, USA.
   Commercial X Server - for more information please try these services
http://www.xinside.com            info@xinside.com            ftp.xinside.com