On 6/19/07, Jan Harkes <[email protected]> wrote:
You keep referring to the four freedoms so I googled for them and found
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
So which of the freedoms did Tivo take away?
* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
* The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to
your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a
precondition for this.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
(freedom 2).
* The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements
to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3).
Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
It doesn't seem to me they took away freedoms 1, 2 or 3. They released
the source to any free software components and we can study, modify,
redistribute, improve and release our improvements for the benefit of
the whole community.
btw. freedom 3 seems to be just repeating what we already got from
freedoms 1 and 2.
So the only one we could differ in opinion about is freedom 0. I would
say that they in no way are limiting my use of the Linux kernel (which
is the part I mostly care about) I can run the program for any purpose I
see fit. What if I want to run mythtv on my PC at home? Tivo has no
control whether or not I can do so even when my kernel contains any of
their modification or improvements, so I claim that I in fact retained
freedom 0.
Much as I hate to extend the life of this execrable thread, since I
think Alexandre makes Sisyphus look like a hard-nosed pragmatist, it
seems pretty clear that TiVO impinges "[my] freedom to run the
program, for any purpose" if "any purpose" includes "make my TiVO do
what I want," and likewise to "adapt it to [my] needs" -- freedoms 0
and part of 1. It is just disingenuous to argue otherwise.
Dave
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [email protected]
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
[Index of Archives]
[Kernel Newbies]
[Netfilter]
[Bugtraq]
[Photo]
[Stuff]
[Gimp]
[Yosemite News]
[MIPS Linux]
[ARM Linux]
[Linux Security]
[Linux RAID]
[Video 4 Linux]
[Linux for the blind]
[Linux Resources]
