Quote:
Originally Posted by painkiller
From what I know people cared (not many of course) about the sources various times in the past.. of course they didn't receive anything.
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Well, you're right. But I always think there may be a friendly solution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by painkiller
My strong suggestion was said just because this is a repeated behavior and not something new happened recently. People talked about Linux and open firmwares of the M96 way back when it already had to be released.
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Again you're right, but in the past they gave in at last. They (Onyx) never cared much about their community, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by painkiller
Maybe there are other issues that stops them from releasing the source (more legal than technical).. maybe they are using a variant of the GPL that doesn't force them to redistribute the code?
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Definitely not. Although I'm not a lawyer, I know they cannot just re-license the Linux kernel (for example) and circumvent the duty to disclose the code. As they did not add modules, but implemented patches to the kernel, they created a work based on GPL'ed sources. Even if they made their additions as modules, they would have to release the code of the kernel itself (but the module could stay as a binary blob)...
They used the Linux kernel, they used several open source libraries and programs, they made changes to them, but they never released the code. I don't know of any precedents in China, but Germany is known for enforcing the GPL. If we really would resort to bringing the FSF into this, though, I'm sure Onyx would not be resistant for long. They are a rather small company and surely don't want to be cut off from the markets in Europe and the US, where the GPL is upheld. This means, even if the FSF could not reach Onyx directly, they could hold ereader-store.de liable, as they worked also on the code. This way, Onyx' main retailer in Central Europe could be forced to stop selling these devices.
Anyway, I would prefer a friendly solution.