Despite having been a lawyer (with only limited work in intellectual property), I've never understood quite how the Open Source license works. For example, I don't get how Android can be based on a Linux core and nonetheless have closed source aspects.
First, which open source license? There's a lot, like the BSD, the Apache license, and the GPLv2/GPLv3/LGPL/AGPLv3, etc.
Now, despite what Microsoft has said, the GPL is not "viral." It does not surreptitiously infect adjacent software. Libraries like glibc are LGPL, which don't require software that link against them to be GPL. It is entirely possible, legally, to run proprietary software on top of Linux (whether just the core, or a full GNU/Linux system.)
Originally Posted by
In this paranoid state, I further wonder whether Nokia can use its retained programmers to develop MeeGo-oriented software, and then kill it with copyrights/patents so that critical parts of a future MeeGo OS would be crippled by making them proprietary, unused, and unusable.*
Firing such a salvo would be attacking every company that uses Linux in its business, which hits companies like IBM, Oracle, Redhat, Sony, and more. More than a few would step up in its defense and it's why Microsoft relies mostly on FUD and indirect attacks.
Originally Posted by
*I've long wondered whether Microsoft had a secret agreement with NetManage (and thereby with its successor companies) to keep EccoPro out of development. EccoPro is a very powerful PIM (with many unusual capabilities, such that Personal Information Manager doesn't really encompass all it can do) that still has a following, even though it's had no development since 1997. NetManage acquired EccoPro in mid-1997 and immediately stopped all further development of it. Numerous people tried to buy EccoPro from NetManage, even as recently as the last couple years, but NetManage wouldn't sell it or open the code, even though it gets no income from the product. The only beneficiaries of NetManage's refusal that I can think of are other PIM vendors, like Microsoft, which sells its much-inferior Outlook.
Microsoft has tried dirty tricks before, yes, but the problem for them with Linux, and the reason they hate it and open source so terribly, is that there's no one company you can buy, no one developer you can pay off to kill it. Once something is released under the GPL, it can never truly be taken proprietary again. On top of that, software patents have no teeth in Europe and have no known teeth (or would be ill enforced) in regions like Asia.
Microsoft has tried dirty tricks before, yes, but the problem for them with Linux, and the reason they hate it and open source so terribly, is that there's no one company you can buy, no one developer you can pay off to kill it. Once something is released under the GPL, it can never truly be taken proprietary again. On top of that, software patents have no teeth in Europe and have no known teeth (or would be ill enforced) in regions like Asia.
Good thing for Microsoft, then, that such a large portion of Maemo was kept closed-source so as to make it hard for the community to free themselves from the bonds of Nokia's control over the hardware that prevents it from ever truly going beyond the decrepit state of fossilization that it's already beginning to feel. MeeGo is about the only true hope I can see for the N900 and even that feels like it might never go anywhere if Microsoft has a say in limiting the release of the closed blobs that would have helped support bringing that onto the hardware.
MeeGo is about the only true hope I can see for the N900 and even that feels like it might never go anywhere if Microsoft has a say in limiting the release of the closed blobs that would have helped support bringing that onto the hardware.
I doubt Microsoft has any true say, and if the post regarding the Developer Edition of MeeGo for the N900 is accurate, with luck the device will be fully functional.
The only two closed blobs left are BME and the SGX drivers. And only Stskeeps has enough insight to say if they have the sources and whether or not Nokia could interfere with them.
I doubt Microsoft has any true say, and if the post regarding the Developer Edition of MeeGo for the N900 is accurate, with luck the device will be fully functional.
The only two closed blobs left are BME and the SGX drivers. And only Stskeeps has enough insight to say if they have the sources and whether or not Nokia could interfere with them.
Good good! I've lost interest/track of what's going on lately so I wasn't aware that they're the only two that are left. Still, those two are pretty significant portions to remain closed and I'm far more skeptical about Microsoft's involvement in Nokia's decisions lately. Considering how closely they'll be working together, it wouldn't be too strange to see Microsoft influencing Nokia's priorities in a way that makes it difficult for Nokia to care about whether or not MeeGo manages to get these drivers. (After all, isn't that effectively what they just did to the company's priorities in general?)
I bought a HTC desire HD a couple of days ago after it getting a good wrap by another poster on here. It tears my N900 to pieces, everything just works. Android is definately going to be the OS of the future. It's hackable but has alot of support.
I'm sad to say, after 15 years of nokia phones I probably won't go back..
I bought a HTC desire HD a couple of days ago after it getting a good wrap by another poster on here. It tears my N900 to pieces, everything just works. Android is definately going to be the OS of the future. It's hackable but has alot of support.
I'm sad to say, after 15 years of nokia phones I probably won't go back..
As for bme, everything needed for battery charging and charge metering has datasheets available. Creating an opensource battery charge management daemon is entirely possible and doable in less than a week if someone has a couple of days spare time.
1. Qwerty keyboard stays.
2. Sturdy usb port
3. Overall more powerful hw than N900.
4. All hw drivers open enough to be included in a meego build (giving an upgrade path without depending on Nokia)
