On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 01:44:49PM -0400, Jim Ancona wrote: > On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra <r...@1407.org> > wrote: > > On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 07:23:38AM -0700, Gothnet wrote: > >> What's proprietary about android? > > > > The DRM locking you out of applying changes to phones. The excuse of "oh, > > its the > > phone maker/operator that does it" is a mere smoke screen. > > > > And no, an unbricked android phone does not count as Free Software since > > you're > > possibly breaking the law (in the US thanks to the DMCA, and in EU thanks > > to the > > EUCD). > > Are you talking about Android, or are you talking about phones that > run it? Obviously, most phones that run Android are proprietary. The > Freerunner is not. That's got nothing to do with whether the Android > OS is free software.
Well, since Freedom 0 is hampered in practice, as well as freedom 3, and without freedoms 0 and 3, 1 and 2 aren't of much use, I can't label software oriented towards being DRM friendly as Free Software, in practice. And software that is only Free Software in theory... well, that doesn't quite cut it, for me. > >> Android is under the APL2, which has even less restriction than the GPL, > > > > Only on a superficial level can that be true. It has less restrictions than > > the > > GPL because the later tries to make sure everyone has all the essencial > > freedoms. > > According to the FSF, Apache 2 is a free software license: > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#apache2. We're miscommunicating. What I'm saying is that the end result is more restricted software rather than more Free Software, hence only from a superficial level can it be considered as less restricted. At an atomical level, yes, but life doesn't end there :( I can't properly configure IBM HTTPd Server because IBM (in Portugal) is claiming not to support our configuration (more PCI:DSS oriented), so bummer for APL :) > To the extent that the Freerunner is a "free phone" (proprietary bits > like the GSM modem and wifi notwithstanding), if you run Android on it > you will be using a free phone with a free as in freedom operating > system. Yes, but I am using my freedom of choice to choose not to support a model oriented towards reducing user freedom, and my freedom of speech to advocate against it. :) Crappy (but with strong and promising signs for the future) as the current telephony apps are, I'll take them any day first rather than Android. Best, Rui -- Umlaut Zebra �ber alles! Today is Prickle-Prickle, the 66th day of Discord in the YOLD 3175 + No matter how much you do, you never do enough -- unknown + Whatever you do will be insignificant, | but it is very important that you do it -- Gandhi + So let's do it...?
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