Re: Acer Aspire One - 1024x600, 8G flash, NZ$600
On Saturday 02 August 2008 3:21:44 pm Nick Rout wrote: On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 1:47 PM, Daniel Hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What I wonder is how long it will take till some one gets pissed that these various lockdowned devices don't comply with GPL then we mite see how well GPL stands in a Court of Law what makes you think that they are not complying with the GPL? Several hardware companies have been sued over Busybox, but all of the suits seem to have ended in a settlement - favourable to the copyright holders by all reports. Being locked out of your own install of Linux sounds like it's the opposite of what GPL is all about, too me it seams like it's been Tivo-ed or however you would put it, too bad no one uses GPL3 yet disclamer, I haven't read the GPL
Re: Acer Aspire One - 1024x600, 8G flash, NZ$600
Nick Rout wrote: nah the whole point of these machines is to be ultra portable. A long lasting battery is an absolute must IMHO. I would have said 'a serious point of difference' not 'the whole point'. I wonder if these types of machines are going to open up a whole new area of the market with people who only have a pc just to look something up and clear the old email and aren't willing to pay $1000+ to have the digital equivalent of a library card and letter box. Cheers Don
Re: Acer Aspire One - 1024x600, 8G flash, NZ$600
Well put! up and clear the old email and aren't willing to pay $1000+ to have the digital equivalent of a library card and letter box. Cheers Don
Re: Acer Aspire One - 1024x600, 8G flash, NZ$600
On 8/2/08, Nick Rout [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 1:47 PM, Daniel Hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What I wonder is how long it will take till some one gets pissed that these various lockdowned devices don't comply with GPL then we mite see how well GPL stands in a Court of Law It does, have no fear on that point. what makes you think that they are not complying with the GPL? There is not one squeak about it anywhere on the web site as far as I could see, I'd expect at least a passing mention about the software licence used in the FAQ section. Several hardware companies have been sued over Busybox, but all of the suits seem to have ended in a settlement - favourable to the copyright holders by all reports. True, Like the OP, I too suspect that this machine is not in GPL conformance. Probably because of ignorance and ineptitude, rather that overt malice. In all probability the issue will come into the open fairly soon. I'd quite like one but only if it is possible to exercise one's own choice about the software load. In practice, I suspect that the relatively short battery discharge time is nothing like the disadvantage the pundits make it out to be. The battery in my ThinkPad is about two-thirds stuffed and its approximate 45 minute life, while something of a pita, is by no means a show stopper. -- Sincerely etc. Christopher Sawtell
Re: Acer Aspire One - 1024x600, 8G flash, NZ$600
On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 6:54 PM, Christopher Sawtell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 8/2/08, Nick Rout [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 1:47 PM, Daniel Hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What I wonder is how long it will take till some one gets pissed that these various lockdowned devices don't comply with GPL then we mite see how well GPL stands in a Court of Law It does, have no fear on that point. Well there aren't a lot of decided cases, not in every jurisdiction anyway. what makes you think that they are not complying with the GPL? There is not one squeak about it anywhere on the web site as far as I could see, I'd expect at least a passing mention about the software licence used in the FAQ section. Thats not a requirement of the GPL. You are quite possibly right, but as I suspect you don't have one of these computers, you can't complain about not being able to obtain the source code. Several hardware companies have been sued over Busybox, but all of the suits seem to have ended in a settlement - favourable to the copyright holders by all reports. True, Like the OP, I too suspect that this machine is not in GPL conformance. Probably because of ignorance and ineptitude, rather that overt malice. In all probability the issue will come into the open fairly soon. I'd quite like one but only if it is possible to exercise one's own choice about the software load. In practice, I suspect that the relatively short battery discharge time is nothing like the disadvantage the pundits make it out to be. The battery in my ThinkPad is about two-thirds stuffed and its approximate 45 minute life, while something of a pita, is by no means a show stopper. nah the whole point of these machines is to be ultra portable. A long lasting battery is an absolute must IMHO.
Re: Acer Aspire One - 1024x600, 8G flash, NZ$600
What I wonder is how long it will take till some one gets pissed that these various lockdowned devices don't comply with GPL then we mite see how well GPL stands in a Court of Law The good: Nice screen, 95% keyboard, 1kg The bad: Poor battery life (only 2 hours, not a patch on Asus Eee). The dodgy: We've also tried calling Acer up to see if they could release the root password to us as we needed it to install a suitable video player but they were unable to do so. http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=14id=2619 http://tastech.co.nz/details/258447.htm I believe the Tastech offering has 512M RAM.
Re: Acer Aspire One - 1024x600, 8G flash, NZ$600
On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 1:47 PM, Daniel Hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What I wonder is how long it will take till some one gets pissed that these various lockdowned devices don't comply with GPL then we mite see how well GPL stands in a Court of Law what makes you think that they are not complying with the GPL? Several hardware companies have been sued over Busybox, but all of the suits seem to have ended in a settlement - favourable to the copyright holders by all reports.
