kenneth marken wrote: > but the neo seems to be designed from day one to be made from virtually > of the shelf parts. FIC is just the hired factory (like how apple do for > their stuff or microsoft does for the xbox's), they hold no copyright or > patent on the neo iirc. so if FIC comes up short, one can take the parts > and find some other factory willing to have a go at it.
FIC owns the hardware design. They are not just a hired factory. You can be sure that they very much *do* hold copyright and perhaps patents on the hardware design. And that has *nothing* to do with the openness of OpenMoko. OpenMoko is a software distribution, not a hardware design. OpenMoko (the registered organisation, separate from FIC the company who is creating the first piece of hardware designed for the OpenMoko software) never promised open hardware. They promised open software (the OpenMoko software, which is being developed *completely* in the open), and they gave some dates that they *expected* (not promised) FIC (the hardware company) to be ready to sell some hardware (the Neo1973) that the OpenMoko software runs on. People on this list should remember that "OpenMoko" is a piece of software which has been freely available and developed in the open for months now, not an FIC hardware device (which may or may not be delivered by the hardware company on a particular date). When there are multiple devices available from multiple manufacturers, this will all be much clearer. But in the meantime, please keep the distinction between OpenMoko (a piece of software) and the Neo1973 (just one of the hardware platforms on which OpenMoko can run) clear. If you want to complain about Neo1973 delays, then call them Neo1973 delays, not OpenMoko delays. If you want to complain that FIC doesn't share the hardware circuit diagrams with you, then tough - they never promised to, and I expect they never will. If you want complain about OpenMoko, then get your terminology correct first, cause OpenMoko exists today in an SVN repository that anyone can download and contribute to. If you think you can get an openmoko-compatible hardware platform to market quicker than FIC can, then please do so (either by reverse-engineering an existing closed phone, or creating your own open phone). See if you can beat FIC to the punch! OpenMoko is about the software, not which hardware platform happens to appear first. -- Rod (not employed by FIC or OpenMoko) _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
