Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Sat, 25 May 2002 09:14:44 -0700 | From | Larry McVoy <> | Subject | Re: patent on O_ATOMICLOOKUP [Re: [PATCH] loopable tmpfs (2.4.17)] |
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On Sat, May 25, 2002 at 01:59:10AM -0600, Thunder from the hill wrote: > I think the point he's tryin' to make is somewhere else than that. There > are lots of companies running embedded devices (oh yes, I can tell ;-), > and as long as it is a) not clear and/or b) impossible by license to use > real time linux w/their licenses, they won't. > > Embedded and real time devices are "The Future" for lots of companies. And > of course they're going to want to sell it. Currently, they have three > ways: > > 1. They try RTAI and don't have any licensing problems, but they are very > unsure about it, since certain people keep telling that RTAI is crap > > 2. They get used to RTLinux, where they are altogether forced to use > either GPL or their license. This isn't exactly a way of choice. > > 3. They go buy another real time os implementation.
4. Contact FSMlabs, ask about licensing costs, compare to #3 and go with #4 if it makes sense.
If we were hearing about lots of companies who want to use RT/Linux and have choosen not to do so because of the licensing, there might be cause for concern. I'm sure there are companies who have choosen to skip RT/Linux once they realized it wasn't free, that's too bad, but not the end of the world. In the long run, it's probably good because somebody has to emerge with a business model which will allow them to make enough money to support the RT stuff. -- --- Larry McVoy lm at bitmover.com http://www.bitmover.com/lm - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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