On Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 04:58:40PM -0500, Chris Adams wrote: > The reason is that if there ever is a security hole in the routing > engine software (FreeBSD kernel, OpenSSH, etc.), it would be a really > bad thing if crackers could load arbitrary software (rootkits, spam > software, etc.) directly on Internet core routers. If you think spam > zombies on cable modems or DSL are bad, imagine them on 100 megabit > links!
Not sure if it's a good example, keep in mind that at the first exploitable software bug any hardware DRM breaks apart. But since you made a BSD-embedded example, this shows how the only really important thing is that by using linux instead of BSD, they can't make huge improvements or important security bugfixes to the routing engine, without us being able to incorporate them in our "home firewalls", that's the whole difference with BSD and it explains the spirit of the gpl pretty well and in the end why linux by definition can receive more contributions and in turn be technically superior. Whatever the vendor does with the gpl code is generally up to him, and if it uses the closed approach it'll allow somebody else to sell a "open" router (potentially at an higher price). Economy 101. The worry that nobody will step in and sell an "open" equivalent is a red herring. Infact I wouldn't be so certain that openmoko would exist if the current linux cellphones would be already totally open! Now I know this all probably sounds boring talk, but I think it's much closer to reality than the prospect of a trusted computing and/or DRM apocalypse. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
