Robert Collins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Fri, 2008-11-07 at 20:01 +0000, David Given wrote: > > 2. For at least some of these devices, even if the source code was > > available it would add no value, because of legal restrictions > > governing which firmware blobs can be used on that hardware. > > I don't agree with this point: there may be no added value for *most > users* - but if I had the firmware source I could e.g. fix a bug to get > a region the manufacturer had not bothered to certify in to certify the > device. Or open up the power/frequency to ranges I hold a licence to > operate in.
I argue that this *does* represent added value for most users. If you, as a competent hacker, are free to modify and implement such an improvement, and you're free to then redistribute the modified version, then many other users *do* benefit because such improvements as are widely useful will tend to be distributed widely. In this way, freedom to modify and redistribute is beneficial to *all* users, whether or not they want to excercise it themselves; just as freedom to modify my kitchen appliance and sell it back to me (or sell me the service of doing so) benefits me even if that freedom is only exercised by my friendly independent appliance-modification shop. -- \ “If I melt dry ice, can I swim without getting wet?” —Steven | `\ Wright | _o__) | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
