[probablybanned]

"Oh, so this feature is just totally broken, then? Cool."

Always read the errata, folks.

[ianhowson]

"Also, we're not fixing the bugs, because customers have already built products that work around the bugs. Fixing the bugs would break their products."

Case in point: Microchip ENC28J60 (http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/en022889). Less than half of the advertised features actually work.

[bsder]

Yeah, don't use their CAN interface IC's either. Exact same complaint.

In general, I now avoid Microchip like the plague. Which means I now avoid Atmel, Micrel, SMSC, etc. <cries>

[pryelluw]

What chips do you use then?

[bsder]

Generally I will go for a built-in CAN controller on a microcontroller. Those generally work fine.

Brands? A lot of TI and ST.

[vvanders]

Or the cost of the tape-out outweighs the number of customers using the feature.

[ianhowson]

Yup. The times when I've worked on small-quantity ASICs, tapeout cost and engineer availability have been the main reason that bugs weren't fixed.

The ENC28J60 did at least four more silicon revs after the errata were released, so... yay Microchip?