Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Copying firmware from a device that you don't own and installing on another machine is no different to pirating any other software.
Claiming that a device which is perfectly legitimately sold is in some way "illegal" is an altogether different matter. IF it is, then it's a matter for the copyright holder to complain about. Have they done so? Who actually is the copyright holder?
Let's suppose - just for the sake of argument - that your claim is true and that the Gen3's firmware (along with that of every other Netronix-based machine) does violate the right of the Linux copyright holders. That still doesn't make it "right" to copy it. Copying illegally-obtained software is just as "wrong" as copying legally-obtained software. If you come across a pirated copy of a game on a bit-torrent site are you going to say "this isn't legal software, so it's perfectly OK for me to copy it"?
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Ummm... Well actually, as far as the OS part is concerned, yeah it does! I grant you that the Boo Reader and the startup bitmap are wholly-owned by Bookeen, but the Linux part of the kernel - and maybe even the Vivi bootloader is GPL.
Derek