I see JoJo's point and I think he has a good one. JMLaser supported my software by giving me an EasyLase to test. I got a free DAC and they got more software support for their DAC. They have probably reached similar agreements with other companies or people (like Zoof and his EasyLase games). DrLava's driver allows the use of different hardware to be used with the software that was, in some way, paid for by JoJo and that just doesn't seem right.
I was talking with Norm about adding support for his new DAC. He told me that there is an MLD file (Mamba driver) for it and that I could interface with that if I wanted to. It is true that I could easily do that but I have refused because it is not ethical for me to be ripping off Mamba by using their drivers or their interface, especially since I am a (very small) competitor.
I am glad that the EzAud sound card driver has it's own native driver. Spaghetti currently uses that native driver and NOT the EasyLase clone interface. I encourage DrLava to remove the clone EasyLase API from his software and instead create an MLD wrapper for it. This will allow it to work with Mamba at least. I know it will break compatibility with Laseroids and some other stuff but I just think it is the right thing to do.
As a software developer, I don't particularly like having to add support for different drivers. The MLD model is very nice but we need an open version. I would be interested in talking with other software companies (and hardware companies) to create a common driver model that we support. A common API does not hurt business. Users will still buy the software that they like the most and fits their budget. And hardware and software vendors can spend less time debugging each others systems. Let's move forward but not by copying other company's work... but by innovating. It's the right thing for the industry and it for the users.
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Originally Posted by James Lehman
