win modems

I think that the issue of win-modems (i.e. soft modems) will finally get resolved as Linux becomes more popular. As I understand things, the reason we don't have drivers for win-modems under Linux is that the manufacturers have not released the design speciifications of the modems and therefore no one has been able to build the drivers that do required functions. I am not convinced that this is really the case, since I can't see the competitive advantage of kkeping the specifications secret - to me it seems to just cost a firm sales.

Right now, if you want to use Linux you have to have an external modem or a 'real' internal modem. Both ways cost more that a win modem (I have seen win modems being sold for $5 at retail). The upside is that an external or 'real' modem works better. On my systems I seem to get about 10% higher connection speed with a real modem than with a win-modem