Firewire
- Thread starter Krisneph
- Start date
sheepguy42
AFOL
It's technical name is IEEE 1394. Apple owns the name Firewire, and anyone else who uses that name on their product must pay Apple (to license the name). Sony owns another name for it, you may have seen digital cameras that use i.Link? Same thing. Apple was the first to standardize it, meaning put it on most and then all their computers.
simX
Unofficial Mac Genius
Uh, didn't Apple invent FireWire? I'm pretty sure they did. Didn't they get an award for it or something?
I thought that Apple tried to slap like a 2¢ royalty fee for every FireWire port or something, but that they decided to give up on it because companies were not willing to pay that.
Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
I thought that Apple tried to slap like a 2¢ royalty fee for every FireWire port or something, but that they decided to give up on it because companies were not willing to pay that.
Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
I think Apple owns the trademark Firewire and indeed wanted royalites, I want to say $2 per use, but I could be full of crap.
Also, I'm pretty sure Apple devloped or co-developed the actual creation of Firewire, though if someone has more hard facts, I'd love to hear em.
Things brings on a whole issue of Firewire vs. USB (2 especially). I had been wondering why the hell a stupid useless interface like USB was propagating when a clearly superior option (Firewire) was well in place. And then someone reminded me, because Intel developed USB(2) (right?-codeveloped? owns? something like that).
Anyway, it's all about owning or at least being in a position of power with a given technology, which of course is why every damn stupid new thing is proprietary (e.g. internet video codecs, networking formats, cables, wireless protocols, etc.).
This is a shame because if there were more cooperation, we as consumers would be much better off. Anyone remember a little thing called MIDI? Introduced in 1984, developed by a consortium of music industry folkes, it set a clearly defined (albeit, a tad bit limited as it turns out, but still) set of rules for everyone to follow. It is still the standard today and many, many companies profited from its acceptance. The computer industry has no such MIDI metaphor that I can think of.
Exceptions occur, however. One recent one is Adobe with SWF files. They conceded the format to Macromedia, but simply went ahead and developed arguably better tools (or at least very good alternatives) for working with SWF files. This was smart as if they had tried to develop their own format, they would have wasted a hell of a lot of money, confused the consumers and probably would have lost anway.
Also, I'm pretty sure Apple devloped or co-developed the actual creation of Firewire, though if someone has more hard facts, I'd love to hear em.
Things brings on a whole issue of Firewire vs. USB (2 especially). I had been wondering why the hell a stupid useless interface like USB was propagating when a clearly superior option (Firewire) was well in place. And then someone reminded me, because Intel developed USB(2) (right?-codeveloped? owns? something like that).
Anyway, it's all about owning or at least being in a position of power with a given technology, which of course is why every damn stupid new thing is proprietary (e.g. internet video codecs, networking formats, cables, wireless protocols, etc.).
This is a shame because if there were more cooperation, we as consumers would be much better off. Anyone remember a little thing called MIDI? Introduced in 1984, developed by a consortium of music industry folkes, it set a clearly defined (albeit, a tad bit limited as it turns out, but still) set of rules for everyone to follow. It is still the standard today and many, many companies profited from its acceptance. The computer industry has no such MIDI metaphor that I can think of.
Exceptions occur, however. One recent one is Adobe with SWF files. They conceded the format to Macromedia, but simply went ahead and developed arguably better tools (or at least very good alternatives) for working with SWF files. This was smart as if they had tried to develop their own format, they would have wasted a hell of a lot of money, confused the consumers and probably would have lost anway.
All of you that said apple invented it, are correct.
"Apple invented FireWire in the mid-90s and shepherded it to become the established cross-platform industry standard IEEE 1394. "
Taken directly from Apple's website:
http://www.apple.com/firewire/
adambyte
Registered
I heard it was $1 license for every FireWire port, but I could be wrong.
But isn't that just crazy, though? Think about it. Every digital movie camera, every DV deck, every hard disk, every (dare I say it) Windows PC that has a FireWire port on it... Apple got paid for. Doesn't it just give you a warm squishy feeling in your heart?
But isn't that just crazy, though? Think about it. Every digital movie camera, every DV deck, every hard disk, every (dare I say it) Windows PC that has a FireWire port on it... Apple got paid for. Doesn't it just give you a warm squishy feeling in your heart?
And the additional side effect of the non-compliance with the Firewire branding is that the consumers are confused and older, useless stupid technologies end up staying around longer. The average person barely understands Firewire, yet alone the fact that 1394, iLink, FW are all the exact same thing.
Does anyone know if Apple gets anything for the use of the technology, but not the name?
Does anyone know if Apple gets anything for the use of the technology, but not the name?
phatsharpie
Futuristic Robotic Cat
FireWave? How both un-original and hedious...
-B
Matrix Agent
Masochist Mascot
I've always wanted to ask this....
Apart from the obvious differences, why are there generally USB/FW for devices and Ethernet for networks? Both simply deal with the transfer of information, though USB and FW also have the capability to power devices. So why can't my iPod use Ethernet per se?
Sounds like a dumb question, but think about it. It's weird.
Apart from the obvious differences, why are there generally USB/FW for devices and Ethernet for networks? Both simply deal with the transfer of information, though USB and FW also have the capability to power devices. So why can't my iPod use Ethernet per se?
Sounds like a dumb question, but think about it. It's weird.
simX
Unofficial Mac Genius
I think it's because USB and FireWire data/power transmission seriously degrade over long distances. That's why you use ethernet and phone lines to transmit data over the internet.
But it's a good question why you wouldn't use Ethernet for an iPod or something, besides the obvious lack of the ability to provide power as well.
UPDATE: Now that I think about it, it actually makes sense. Keyboards and mice and iPods and other things need power, so of course you're going to use USB/Firewire to transmit data and stuff. If you used Ethernet, then they wouldn't be able to work because they need power. Similarly, as I said above, it wouldn't make sense to use FireWire/USB over long distances because the signals quickly degrade.
So I guess that's your answer.
But it's a good question why you wouldn't use Ethernet for an iPod or something, besides the obvious lack of the ability to provide power as well.
UPDATE: Now that I think about it, it actually makes sense. Keyboards and mice and iPods and other things need power, so of course you're going to use USB/Firewire to transmit data and stuff. If you used Ethernet, then they wouldn't be able to work because they need power. Similarly, as I said above, it wouldn't make sense to use FireWire/USB over long distances because the signals quickly degrade.
So I guess that's your answer.
Matrix Agent
Masochist Mascot
Cool.