Thread: Maemo is CSS contaminated (not entirely open)
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jgombos is offline jgombos
2008-02-25 , 16:07
Posts: 67 | Thanked: 13 times | Joined on Feb 2008 @ U.S.A.
#10
Thanks for all the responses folks. Y'all have addressed my concern quite comprehensively. Considering that Mamona exists and is in moving forward, I have no issue with developing Maemo apps on a temporary basis until Mamona is stable.

Regarding the MAC address, I'm very distrusting. I can only see how the collection of that information can be used against users and developers. Eg. A developer who becomes bound by the EULA (and the agreement acceptance is tracked via MAC address) produces an OS or component that somehow damages the profits of those standing in front of closed source components. From there it's just a matter of picking out whatever in the fine print in the EULA that can be used to threaten or sue the developer.
Originally Posted by Texrat View Post
Specific to these devices, if some parts had not begun as closed, then the tablets could not and would not have been released.
OpenMoko has found a way to do this w/out closed parts.
Originally Posted by Texrat View Post
As has been noted numerous times on this forum as well, continuous efforts have been made to replace as many closed aspects as possible with open equivalents.
I believe I've started the only thread of this kind on this forum. But searching has its limits.
Originally Posted by Texrat View Post
However, as long as technologies like Flash are supported, they can't possibly be 100% open and I don't know how someone would get the idea they could.
Frills like Flash could easily be a separate install. And if Flash and other non-essential technologies were the only parts preventing Mamona from happening, Maemo may not have been packaged with them in the first place (debatable) but certainly Mamona would already be complete, and it would have captured the interest of most developers; certainly all the GNU purists.

(BTW, Flash does have a GPL alternative)
Last edited by jgombos; 2008-02-25 at 16:16.