Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:34:17 -0600 (MDT) | Subject | Re: [REQUEST] Clarification from Copyright Holders on FUSE/NDISWRAPPER | From | jmerkey@wolfmoun ... |
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> On Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:45:36 -0400 > Theodore Tso <tytso@mit.edu> wrote: > >> The position statement on closed-source Linux Kernel Modules was >> deliberately not a "policy statement", nor did it talk about issues >> about what is or isn't legal. This was deliberate. Issues over >> whether or not the GPL covers binary modules fundamentally depend on >> individual legal jurisdictions' interpretations of copyright law and >> derivitive works, > > This, of course, means you may want to ask your lawyer to > make sure to which countries binary only kernel modules can > be distributed and in which countries they are definately > illegal. > > Then you can put some access control in place on your web > site to make sure people from countries where binary only > kernel modules are illegal cannot download your drivers. > > Of course, what to do with the countries where the answer > to the question is not clear cut is up to you... > > Investigating a few hundred jurisdictions could be a fair > amount of work, but if you want to be absolutely sure there's > not much else you can do. > > -- > All rights reversed. >
Rik,
I do not distribute anything outside of the US, and nothing I offer as downloads is binary without sources. My website at wolfmountaingroup.org is open source only, and I feel I am doing my part to the OSS empire in putting out a kernel debugger and a bunch of other stuff for free.
Ad for countries with anally retentive laws about binary drivers, it sounds like places no one wants to pay for stuff anyway so I doubt any of my business associates have any interest in distributing in these jurisdictions.
The other stuff, including file systems is for commercial companies and it's not on my website, nor do I distribute it. I ported the proprietary file systems over to Free BSD over the summer. Linux had some advantages because it has better overall driver support for newer hardware, but the newer desktops on FreeBSD that are out have left Linux in the dust, and Free BSD has finally started to catch up to Linux.
One nice thing about putting out a kernel debugger is it gives me a unique view into the numbers and status developers working on Linux -- and it's shrinking from the download patterns and the types of folks downloading it.
Linux is pervasive, but based upon my observations, development is declining and almost non-existent in commercial companies except for a small handful of companies. I do not believe that Free BSD or some other Unix is going to replace Linux, but what I see happening is a loss of interest in Unix platforms generally.
M$ has won, again, and not because they are better or have better products (Linux is tons better than Windows and a lot easier to develop on), but because there still is simply nothing else out there that is better or competes well in their space.
Jeff
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