Definition of Mandatory

[Jim McGrath]

        Reply to:   RE>>Definition of Mandatory


> In this ever changing world, what is a target and what is an initiator
anyway?
> The boundaries between these two will always be changing.

> -Larry

The short, simple, and correct answer for me is that a target is the stuff
Quantum manufactures.  Indeed, this type of definition (who manufactures the
item in question) is the only relevant
distinction, since the whole purpose of a common interface standard is to
allow items from
multiple sources to mix and match.  If second sourcing was never an issue,
then people could
go off and partition their architectures any way they want, and develop any
interface they
want - no one would either know or care.

Clearly it is not common practice for device manufacturers (e.g. Conner, HP,
IBM, Maxtor, Quantum, Seagate, WD) to ship device drivers as a standard part
of the disk drive - that is not the business model of the WDD industry. 
Unless that changes, an interface standard that does not take this into
account is not a device interface standard, since it does not promote the
second sourcing of devices.

Jim