Ken Arromdee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Sun, 24 Oct 2004, Raul Miller wrote: >> > The person who has the device doesn't neceessarily have the firmware, >> > because >> > the firmware can be removed. >> The person doesn't have the device at that point -- only part of it. > > The same reasoning applies for both examples if you refer to the combination > of > hardware plus CD as a "device".
But that imagined device is broken: it needs another component to read the CD, load the firmware off of it into the computer's memory, process it there, then upload that to the device itself. >> > Of course, there are relatively few examples where you'd *want* to >> > remove the eeprom from the device, but similarly there are few examples >> > where you'd want to sell the device without accompanying it with a CD. >> Of course, those examples include this one: inadvertently losing track >> of the CD. > > That's a difference, but it doesn't seem to be enough. It just means I need > to > rephrase the question: > > "So what's the difference between a device with firmware, and a device with > a CD plus a non-free license letting you copy the CD?" > > In that case, losing the CD doesn't matter because the user can get another > copy. The user can't modify the software on the CD, but then he had no > permission to modify it when it's in hardware either. I'm not sure this last is true, for the same reasons that I may saw any book I have purchased in half and sell the result to you. -Brian -- Brian Sniffen [EMAIL PROTECTED]