Thread: Closed Source Packages in Maemo
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allnameswereout is offline allnameswereout
2009-10-06 , 18:00
Posts: 3,397 | Thanked: 1,212 times | Joined on Jul 2008 @ Netherlands
#297
Originally Posted by Luke-Jr View Post
If I buy the hardware, I have a right to use it. Nokia denies me those rights with the N810's GPS and battery charger. Providing me a broken (or even working) proprietary blob that can use the hardware is not equivalent to giving me the information required to use it myself.
How can you compare what Nokia does (providing proprietary driver instead of open source driver) with what TiVo and Apple do (using DRM to not allow your own software & hardware).

If you want to use your own external GPS on your Nokia N8x0, you can do so, but on your Apple iPod touch you cannot because its locked down and the Bluetooth profiles are crippled (only supporting AD2P) or the hardware isn't even supported by driver (iPhoneOS 2.x). You can add your own Bluetooth profiles on Nokia N8x0 and Nokia N900. You can write your own driver for GPS. You cannot do that on a jailed device.

While I agree 100% open source drivers is ideal it isn't always viable. Like I said, even Openmoko folks had to opt for hardware without open source driver purely because the hardware was the best and there was no 'open' alternative. These folks are hard core open source freaks yet had to opt for proprietary. Isn't that telling? And, their other issue was lack of stability.
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