Re: gEDA-user: firmware and the GPL license

[John Griessen <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Randall Nortman wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 15, 2007 at 11:10:11AM -0500, al davis wrote:
> [...]
>> RMS has claimed that GPL is not appropriate for hardware.  
> [...]
> 
> I think he said this in reference to the actual hardware design, not
> so much the firmware that runs on it.  But the statement is really
> just as true of the firmware.  Imagine the firmware running on your
> microcontroller-based refrigerator, which has no accessible user
> interface, and no way to get data in or out of the hardware without
> physically hacking it.  What does it mean to make the software
> available to the user in this case?  Even in the case of BSD-type
> licenses that require credit to be given "in the documentation
> accompanying the software", what documentation?  Sure, you could stick
> it in the manual for the appliance, but that would be confusing to the
> average consumer.  What if the embedded device is truly embedded in
> such a way that the consumer doesn't even realize there's a computing
> device present -- maybe it's embedded into the structure of their home
> in the form of, say, moisture sensors that detect water leaks.

You are acting as an advocate for the dumbing down going on everywhere
by speaking/thinking so pragmatically.

  So instead everybody reinvents the wheel, and
> as a result more bugs creep into your refrigerator.  (And the
> development tools for those proprietary libraries are, of course,
> Windows-only, which isn't good for open-source either.)

It's not the lack of a license that keeps developers from supplying
code-devel access for embedded products, it's the mindset of their bosses,
and that so few engineers lead companies of any, even small, size.  They
mostly just go to their jobs, creating a Brave New World, and buying techie toys
with the paychecks.

What is really better to push for is fully open development tool access
needing to be in place for every instance of free-open GPL light-bulb-driving software.

The light-bulb needs a 3rd pin for devel access.

John Griessen
[not joking about the light bulbs, (light control systems), I'm developing some]
-- 
Ecosensory   Austin TX
tinyOS devel on:  ubuntu Linux;   tinyOS v2.0.2;   telosb ecosens1


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