On Mon, Oct 1, 2018 at 4:41 PM Don Flowers <donr...@gmail.com> wrote: > > So this statement caught my attention:" Other things that have a Linux kernel > uder the hood are the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook eBook reader devices (and > source > for their Linux kernel and firmware is available."
> Amazon may have released some part of the code but not all, else DRM would > not be employed so vehemently. Which begs the question how much (or little) > dissemination of code constitutes GPL compliance? Simple enough, I think: the Linux *kernel* is under the GPL, and the nature of the GPL is that any code that links *against* GPL code also becomes GPL. Code that runs alongside or under GPL code but does not link against it is not counted. (It's why you can use the GCC toolchain to develop code that will be proprietary. GCC is open source under the GPL, Code developed using it is not unless it links against GPL code or is explicitly licensed under the GPL by the developer.) DRM is separate from that equation. For example, consider eBooks. Those might be released encumbered by DRM, but whether they are is a decision of the *publisher*. *Amazon* does not require it. I was quite taken a few years back when Macmillan Books announced they were no longer selling DRM encumbered titles. Macmillan is the US umbrella imprint of German publisher Holtzbrink, and includes imprints Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, First Second, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Co., Metropolitan Books, Macmillan Audio, Picador, Quick and Dirty Tips, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, Thomas Dunne Books, Castle Point Books, Tor/Forge, and Distributed Publishers among others, and the statement applied to *all* of the subsidiary imprints. They determined that DRM was *not* protecting revenue, and *was* increasing friction for the customer, and dispensed with it. (Sensible. DRM does not prevent piracy, but does annoy the buyer. Removing DRM is trivial, and it only takes one liberated copy uploaded to a file sharing site for the horse to be out of the barn. You aren't losing anything by dropping DRM because the folks who get pirated material wouldn't pay for it in the first place. If they can't get it free they do without.) Amazon's original DRM was intended to lock buyers into the Amazon ecosystem, Buy whatever books you wanted, but make Amazon be the only retailer you bought from. they used broad selection and low pricing as additional means to that end. These days, I don't think DRM is much of a factor from Amazon's viewpoint. They have an enormous customer base, and they got it by reducing friction. I know folks who could find any book they wanted free of charge, but it's simply far more convenient to get it from Amazon. Find it in the catalog, place the order and get immediate fulfillment on the form of a digital download, or get the paper volume shipped to arrive in a day or so. That convenience is worth money to the customers, and Amazon recently became the next company after Apple to get a trillion dollar valuation in consequence. ______ Dennis _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
