On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 1:38 PM, Adrian Yanes <de...@ayanes.com> wrote: > > Maybe the social contract sounds very free-software "fanatic" for a > company, but is one of the best warranties to offer a complete open > source project. > > Besides, it would be a signal of commitment with the community, and it > will encourage participation in the development.
I agree that some companies might have initial reservations about the social contract, but we can explain to them that *they don't have to sign it*. We're happy to have them use Meego and are perfectly willing to let them fold-in binary drivers (of their own or someone else's manufacture) on their own devices. It's just that if they sign the contract and commit drivers and other code back to Meego core, the community will help them maintain, bugfix, and even improve that code. For no cost. Let's lead with a carrot here. Maybe only a handful of vendors will sign initially, but we may be able to convince more to join as they observe the benefits of open development. On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 2:10 PM, Wichmann, Mats D <mats.d.wichm...@intel.com> wrote: > My completely personal, completely unofficial reaction is > that this would have a LOT of problems on the Tivoization > front, as it seems to me everybody below the netbook and > possible tablet type device is interested in some level of > locking down their image... Don't know if it looks that > way to the rest of you or I'm just being too pessimistic? I agree that several vendors are locking down their small devices (just look at all of the jailbreaking/rooting going on in the Apple/Android camps), however I think that as hardware gets smaller and cheaper there will be an increasing number of vendors who offer ever-cheaper hardware without any such lock-downs. The practice of locked-down, subsidized phones will continue as long as there are users buying-in to the system and as long as it remains legal to enforce such lockdowns. The current price of smart phone hardware is so high that it restricts outright ownership to only a small segment of the population. As cheaper hardware becomes available, purchasing an unlocked phone will become a viable alternative for an increasing number of people. _______________________________________________ MeeGo-dev mailing list MeeGo-dev@meego.com http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-dev
