Quote:
Originally Posted by baldrick45
Read the forums here a bit more and you'll see that this is a very touchy subject at mobileread. As one noob to another lets not end up on the receiving end of a flamewar!
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That is a correct summary - except about the
flamewar.
There has always been supporters here of both positions (to help remove SO and not to help remove SO).
The consensus now is forming around the "don't help to remove" position.
As you posted,
In countries without a SO program in place, Amazon customer service will remove them just for the asking;
In countries with a SO program in place, Amazon will remove them for a small fee (to replace their lost ad revenue).
That seems more than reasonable.
The shift in the general consensus was
triggered by Amazon's release of firmware version 5.3.0 for the Kpw.
Which encompasses another controversy here -
Amazon's (apparent) position:
The device is yours, the behavior of the device is still Amazon's.
The position of some here:
The device is yours and its behavior is yours also.
Many of the people here are supporters of Open Source Software.
The most recent GPL license (GPL-v3) supports the position that even when embedded in a device, that OSS is still "yours".
Amazon can not continue in their position, which requires them to use only GPL-v2 licensed OSS, and remain competitive in the market place.
The GPL-v2 licensed code will eventually become too old to compete with more recently written (or re-licensed) GPL-v3 code.
I.E: We can win by waiting. 
And in the meantime, we want to avoid picking away at their revenue stream(s). That would only delay their changing their position on this matter.
(cc: lab126)