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safety-critical systems can use ROMsafety-critical systems can use ROMPosted Oct 18, 2006 10:17 UTC (Wed) by bignose (subscriber, #40)In reply to: safety-critical systems can use ROM by bojan Parent article: FSF should separate GPLv3 changes (Linux.com)
> I don't think letting regular users change ROM chips inside mobile phones
Exactly. That's why it's important to ensure that free software can't be warped by such manufacturers. If they want the freedoms associated with the software, they must let their users have those same freedoms; so those users can get their device's software improved by anyone, not just those approved by the manufacturer.
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safety-critical systems can use ROM Posted Oct 18, 2006 11:07 UTC (Wed) by bojan (subscriber, #14302) [Link] > That's why it's important to ensure that free software can't be warped by such manufacturers.
Sadly, if manufacturers (PCs included) get pushed into DRM-or-nothing direction by big content providers, free software as defined by GPLv3 would simply not be an option as no manufacturer would give you their hardware keys. And given their contracts with content providers and the desire to ship hardware that can present whatever content providers make (i.e. what the masses like to see), they would pick revenue over freedom any day (most manufacturers are big business, which is all about making money). End result, such free software just wouldn't run on any hardware, which would make it irrelevant.
Now, whether that's worse than GPLv2 free software that can be locked down through hardware DRM, I don't know.
safety-critical systems can use ROM Posted Oct 18, 2006 11:26 UTC (Wed) by bignose (subscriber, #40) [Link] > Sadly, if [the DRM cartel gets their way] End result, such free software> just wouldn't run on any hardware, which would make it irrelevant.
That sounds like the DRM cartel's ideal outcome, yes.
Nothing makes it more certain that us assuming it's already inevitable.
safety-critical systems can use ROM Posted Oct 18, 2006 18:37 UTC (Wed) by Arker (guest, #14205) [Link] It's far worse, actually.
A basic ethical principle is to avoid doing harm. If you write software and release it under a license that allows it to be Tivoised, you're aiding and abetting the harm they perpetrate. You'd be better off, ethically speaking, to do nothing. If you license it so they can't do that, and they go ahead and write their own software to do the same thing instead, at least you have not aided them. Additionally, if they have to write their own software, that takes time and resources from them, weakening them. It may be a very small effect, but markets sometimes turn on very small effects.
safety-critical systems can use ROM Posted Oct 19, 2006 12:21 UTC (Thu) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454) [Link] > Sadly, if manufacturers (PCs included) get pushed into DRM-or-nothing> direction by big content providers, free software as defined by GPLv3 would > simply not be an option as no manufacturer would give you their hardware > keys
The power balance is not so simple. As other stated, manufacturers worry most about per-device cost.
Let them freely DRM-ize their existing and planed FLOSS-using products and they'll bow to content providers easily. Make the DRM-ization costly (requiring flash replacement by ROM, existing software replacement by other code, cutting future access to FLOSS code) and you bet manufacturers will fight tooth and nail against mandatory DRMs.
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