Altera promoting counterfeit FTDI IC usage in product

[AnttiLukats]

Hi,

Altera is promoting the "Altera Innovation Lab" at Crowdsupply

https://www.crowdsupply.com/altera/innovation-lab

This is for sure Altera promoted. But one of the projects listed there: uLab Kiwi

https://www.crowdsupply.com/ulab/ulab-kiwi

is using counterfeit FTDI IC for USB Blaster support. This means that any user that uses uLab Kiwi is violating the FTDI License agreement as he would be using FTDI drivers without genuine FTDI IC.

In my opinion it is not OK to promote products that force the user to violate License agreements.

[kmj]

Any windows user concerned about violating the FTDI license can use the Linux version of the Quartus Programmer. It doesn't use any FTDI IP, and it works fine inside of a VM.

[AnttiLukats]

It is not about concerned Windows users. Any windows user will:

* access the JTAG as usual as the board is USB Blaster compatible

* not know that he is violating FTDI License

The product pages do not say:

"We use counterfeit FTDI device technology, you are only allowed to use Quartus on Linux or Linux VM."

This disclaimer isn't there.

I think it is pretty much concern for Altera to be sure that the product based on Altera FPGA does not offer counterfeit USB Blaster.