Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It seems to me that it's rather unreasonable to hold someone responsible for something that they have no control over; if Bookeen are using the hardware and its associated o/s under the terms of a legally arranged contract, it's not Bookeen's "fault" if their supplier hasn't done everything that THEY should have done, is it? For them to "lose out" in a situation in which they are themselves completely blameless is rather an unreasonable thing to suggest, IMHO.
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Unfortunatelly, I think tompe is right. Bookeen knows their device uses Linux, and they should know that it's GPL and what that means, so they should comply with its license. If they don't, they shouldn't distribute Linux.
Let's say their hardware suppliers embedded not only Linux in the system, but also the latest Shrek movie in divx (without license, of course)... Bookeen wouldn't been responsible for what the suppliers do, but they would be responsible for what
they do if they sell this illegal content.
Being realistic, I don't think tompe is asking Bookeen to just drop the Cybook or quit business, but they should try (harder?) to solve this issue either by pressing their suppliers to release the source code or by embedding the OS themselves (and releasing the source code if it's a GPL OS). Until then, they are morally, and probably legally, doing wrong.