Subject: Re: Bad Mistake by Announce List Owner
To: None <netbsd-advocacy@netbsd.org>
From: None <CaptnZilog@aol.com>
List: netbsd-advocacy
Date: 12/09/2001 08:51:29
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> The idea is to encourage companies to support NetBSD...
Exactly. I don't think the NetBSD does itself any favors by *refusing* to
let 3rd parties announce their binary-only software, when the vendor has
taken the time to port their software to NetBSD in the first place. If I had
a commercial venture and was building, say, 3-axis motor controller boards
for CNC type machine equipment, and provided a binary-only driver (to obscure
my proprietary innovative -haha- hardware) for use under NetBSD, would that
necessarily be an "evil" thing? I always thought that *that* was one of the
*advantages* of the BSD license.
As was stated by someone here, I'm not sure I'd want to run it on a
production server... but for a laptop that I want to travel with and listen
to MP3's on, maybe its not a bad thing. And, as commercially licensed
software, if it crashes your system you have a right to call them and
provide them with info and ask them for a fix. While, yes, its not quite
the same as having the source available, and thus knowing how well its
written and what "else" it might be doing, like anything... its your decision.
And, perhaps for a kernel hacker having the source would be useful and
you could find a bug, but I'm sure the average newbie trying to get brand-X
laptop running NetBSD with 16-bit sound, he doesn't care. Just as I'm sure
that he really isn't going to be sitting there looking at the code for ATAPI
disks because he can't figure out how to get it to install correctly.
On the downside of this, of course, we might start getting questions on the
lists from people having problems with it. But the people who have installed
the driver could help them out, and if its a driver bug they just get
referred to
the 3rd party... "if I had the source, I'd check it out, but I don't.. so go
to the
people you got it from".
And, of course... the beauty of open source, if you don't like the fact that
they are
keeping the source closed... feel free to write your own replacement!
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>> The idea is to encourage companies to support NetBSD...
<BR>
<BR>Exactly. I don't think the NetBSD does itself any favors by *refusing* to
<BR>let 3rd parties announce their binary-only software, when the vendor has
<BR>taken the time to port their software to NetBSD in the first place. If I had
<BR>a commercial venture and was building, say, 3-axis motor controller boards
<BR>for CNC type machine equipment, and provided a binary-only driver (to obscure
<BR>my proprietary innovative -haha- hardware) for use under NetBSD, would that
<BR>necessarily be an "evil" thing? I always thought that *that* was one of the
<BR>*advantages* of the BSD license.
<BR>
<BR>As was stated by someone here, I'm not sure I'd want to run it on a
<BR>production server... but for a laptop that I want to travel with and listen
<BR>to MP3's on, maybe its not a bad thing. And, as commercially licensed
<BR>software, if it crashes your system you have a right to call them and
<BR>provide them with info and ask them for a fix. While, yes, its not quite
<BR>the same as having the source available, and thus knowing how well its
<BR>written and what "else" it might be doing, like anything... its your decision.
<BR>And, perhaps for a kernel hacker having the source would be useful and
<BR>you could find a bug, but I'm sure the average newbie trying to get brand-X
<BR>laptop running NetBSD with 16-bit sound, he doesn't care. Just as I'm sure
<BR>that he really isn't going to be sitting there looking at the code for ATAPI
<BR>disks because he can't figure out how to get it to install correctly.
<BR>
<BR>On the downside of this, of course, we might start getting questions on the
<BR>lists from people having problems with it. But the people who have installed
<BR>the driver could help them out, and if its a driver bug they just get referred to
<BR>the 3rd party... "if I had the source, I'd check it out, but I don't.. so go to the
<BR>people you got it from".
<BR>
<BR>And, of course... the beauty of open source, if you don't like the fact that they are
<BR>keeping the source closed... feel free to write your own replacement! </FONT></HTML>
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