Good thinking, you two! The link shows that the black magic (spindle control, etc) is in a dedicated chip controlled by another chip. The "black box" controlling the "black box." I thought they'd be on the same chip and software package. That would increase risk. I didn't anticipate them putting it on a dedicated chip. It makes sense along some lines.
So, that counts out at least one HD vendor from my claim. More could follow if they do something similar. Thanks for the article, too, as I enjoyed reading it.
