> > No, please please don't reward the company which has shown
> > the worst attitude towards the RiscBSD community by buying
> > one of their products for use under RiscBSD!
>
> At the moment i am still waiting for the go-ahead, so nothing
> has been purchased yet.  In which case when (if?) someone comes
> back to me and tells me to order the gear I'll go for the
> Powertec.

If you could also drop Cumana a line, letting them know that you  
have decided to choose the Powertec card over theirs for these  
reasons, it would probably further the cause...

However let's not develop this Cumana thing into a vendetta. When  
I e-mailed them (as suggested by Markus) expressing my concern at  
the position and asking for their comments, they seemed quite  
reasonable, were still looking into removing the NDA, pleaded the  
excuse of the various problems they've had over the last year or  
so, and said they would understand if the problem being unresolved  
persuaded me to purchase an alternative SCSI card (!)

They're well aware of the importance the NDA's removal has for  
development, but at present it doesn't seem to be at the top of  
their priority list. The more people like Duncan inform them of  
their reasons for not purchasing Cumana cards, the more likely   
this is to change.

However, there is a thin line between potential purchasers  
(politely) informing them of their purchasing criteria, and the  
considerably more negative attitude towards Cumana that some seem  
keen on adopting. Please bear in mind that antagonising them isn't  
likely to encourage them to be helpful.

Daniel