I'm happy to support open source development where appropriate. I think in this case though, reverse engineering a proprietary driver for something as single-purpose as a GPS chip is overly aggressive.
And to what end? If it is without the cooperation of Global Locate, then surely they can switch off AGPS access if they choose? Even with their blessing, how long would we expect it to take to improve upon the efforts of their expert full-time development and QA staff who surely take into account balancing not only individual unit performance but that of the overall network? What if we used the open-source replacement and accidentally crashed their servers in the process? What if someone else crashes their servers on purpose? Opening up the GSM stack holds similar concerns -- what's the point of having a 100% open (all device drivers and all) phone, if you can't use it because the commercial carrier has decided that they are tired of a few people abusing their servers? Supporting open source initiatives does not mean that one has to methodologically seek to remove or replace all instances of closed source. Open Source is Good, not a God - we have the freedom to choose when it works best for us, and to permit ourselves a pragmatic flexibility when it doesn't. The AGPS driver will have code or algorithms which, for whatever reason, Global Locate wish not to publish. That is their choice, and as long as they supply a great product which I derive benefit from, by choosing their product I am explicitly agreeing to their terms. Dave Crossland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: "I'm essentially asking if its theoretically possible that this phone might be FSF endorsed - non-free firmware is fine by the FSF as long as it is burned onto a ROM and can never present an ethical problem." So... if the APGS driver was burned onto ROM, and not present as a closed-source binary driver which can be updated and improved.. the FSF would be happy to endorse a phone which supplied no upgrade/bug-fix options to the end-user? Assuming that is the FSF's position, and it does seem to this end-user to be following idealism to a rather religious extent, then fine - everyone has a choice - this individual end-user could care less. "However, straight up, while the proprietary GPS daemon is included by default, or in fact recommended/mentioned by OpenMoko, its not going to be endorsed by the FSF:" What good is freedom of software, if it comes at the cost of freedom of choice? So any product with a FSF Endorsement is therefore unable to even mention an alternative closed-source replacement which may provide me with better functionality? I have to say, as far as PR in the market-place of ideas goes, it would make me think twice about picking up a phone with a FSF endorsement, as my first thought would be.. how hard do I have to hunt if I want to use this phone to its full potential? Anyway, back to the fun stuff :-) Cheers, Richard _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openmoko.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/community
