M$ to license FAT

[Robert Brockway]

On Mon, 8 Dec 2003, Tim Writer wrote:

> And Linux already offers file systems that are more appropriate for this type
> of use. JFFS2, for example, includes wear leveling to minimize wear which can
> cause certain types of flash devices to fail much earlier than expected.
> IIRC, FAT stores critical information (the file allocation table and a single
> backup) in a fixed area of the file system.  When it fails due to wear,
> you're toast, even if the majority of the device is in good shape.

Got that right.  I used to have dozens (maybe hundreds) of floppies that
would fail a format under MS-DOS (ie, FAT12) but would accept an EXT2FS
just fine.  Sector 0 was dying on the floppies iirc and EXT2 would just
work around the problem whereas FAT12 could not.

> > All the manufacturers need to do is supply the filesystem driver when they
> > install the s/w on the MS-Windows.  Adding drivers all over the place is
> > part of the MS-Windows culture.
>
> In fact, many (most?) such products already come with software from the
> manufacturer, even if it's not stricly necessary.

Exactly so bundling a little more would hardly be something the
manufacturer would worry about.

Rob

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Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert-5LEc/6Zm6xCUd8a0hrldnti2O/JbrIOy at public.gmane.org, zzbrock at uqconnect.net
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