The latest issue of the FreeBSD newsletter contains a letter from the Vice President of the FreeBSD Foundation about the GPLv3. "On June 29th, the Free Software Foundation unveiled version 3 of the GNU General Public license. Even though the majority of software included in the FreeBSD distribution is not covered by any version of the GPL, our community cannot ignore this very popular license or its most recent incarnation. Through extremely successful evangelization, and the popularity of Linux, the misconception that OpenSource and the GPL are synonymous has become pervasive."
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Member since:2005-07-08
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2007-02-19
It all comes down to this: the GPLv3 is a software license that dictates hardware design. Software license. Dictating hardware design. That is very strange to a lot of people.
No. If TiVo burns the GPLv3 software in ROM (which cannot be modified later on by TiVo) then it is not a GPLv3 violation.
What TiVo is doing is, it is reserving the right to modify GPLv3 software, but denying the same right to users. This is a clear violation of GPLv3, don't you feel it?
Member since:2005-07-06
What TiVo is doing is, it is reserving the right to modify GPLv3 software, but denying the same right to users. This is a clear violation of GPLv3, don't you feel it?
TiVo doesn't use GPLv3 software, so no.
What TiVo is doing is reserving the right to allow what software gets put on their hardware. They are not denying the right of anyone to modify the software they use.
Member since:2005-07-08
If someone is planning on using GPLv3 software on their devices, then, yes, it is 'dictating' their hardware design to the extent that they cannot lock end=users out of modifying that software while they themselves still can. Those are the particular conditions on software propagation that the GPLv3 is designed to impose. If people think it is strange, they can avoid using it if they choose.
Member since:
2007-03-30
Yes, and I didn't exist before I was born. What's your point?
I was getting at the freedom thing. Explaining it would be like explaining a joke. Too late now!
It all comes down to this: the GPLv3 is a software license that dictates hardware design. Software license. Dictating hardware design. That is very strange to a lot of people.
Edited 2007-09-01 05:30 UTC