"Thanks to pirates, or rather the fear of them, the Intel edition of Apple's OS X is now a proprietary operating system. Mac developers and power users no longer have the freedom to alter, rebuild, and replace the OS X kernel from source code. Stripped of openness, it no longer possesses the quality that elevated Linux to its status as the second most popular commercial OS."
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Member since:2006-01-27
Using the same logic one could argue "Apart from activists, who needs Free Speech, big deal...". When a "liberty" is removed or impeded, such as the ability to alter your kernel, your not just hindering it for the current set of users who depend upon it but for all possible future users as well. When these "technological freedoms" are hindered the possible future creations that would have been made possible by them become impossible.
Now I've heard this cry-of-wolf story before, that Apple is going to lock down their OS instantly. This argument has always been hinged on the fact Apple is slow to post the x86 branch of their source code. Even if Apple decides to do this, there's plenty of old Darwin x86 branches to work from.
http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/
Member since:2006-05-12
It's like when you wish to modify the Windows Kernel, you can if you have the moneay to buy the license! That's right, you can pay a special license that will give you the Source Code for Windows 2000/XP and recompile it yourself.
I bet that Apple will do likewise...
Modifying OS X's Kernel is a not a right but a privilege, and this privilege is no longer free, you will have to pay...
I feel sorry for scientists who relied on that for their precious research, but I bet that a good Linux Distro will do just fine!
Member since:
2006-05-12
Apart from Corporate Users, who do need to recompile their kernel?
No big deal for normal users. For corporate users, I suspect that there will be some Mac OS X Server Edition or licence that will allow you to recompile your kernel or something.
No big deal really.