------------------------------------------------------------------------ A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=73698 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Question: Is third party plugins/applets important for your Squeezebox purchases ? - I won't buy any more Squeezebox products unless support for third party development is prioritized - I won't buy any more Squeezebox products unless the third party plugins I rely on is supported - I use third party plugins but I would still consider buying more Squeezebox products without them - I don't use third party plugins so they aren't important to my Squeezebox purchases ------------------------------------------------------------------------
danco;504105 Wrote: > As I understood it, the SBS architecture (and SB itself) had changed > considerably recently. That means that developers do need to learn > different programming methods. That obviously takes time, but the > software is still open source. You're right about the architecture, but unfortunately you're wrong about the source code. The code for Squeezebox Server is based on the old Slimp3 Server code and is released under the 'GPL' (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html). This means that anyone can copy from the core code, that anyone can share improvements with other people, etc. But the "SqueezePlay" user interface/playback code that runs on SB Controller, SB Radio, SB Touch (and probably every new Squeezebox from now on) is *not* open source, but is released under the 'Logitech Public Source License' (http://svn.slimdevices.com/jive/7.5/trunk/squeezeplay/src/squeezeplay/LICENSE?view=co). Here's 'one of my posts from 2007 regarding the LPSL's problems' (http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpost.php?p=199181&postcount=11). The source code is available -- in fact, right now the only way you can get a SqueezePlay Desktop app for Linux is to download about 330 MB of source and compile it yourself. (I have my own binary, but the LPSL says I cannot share it with you.) But the sole purpose of the LPSL license is to act as a flytrap for intellectual property -- asserting Logitech's right to take any change that any developer makes. This is a big change from the GPL. Years ago when I started writing software for my Squeezeboxes, it was common to see developers include a line like Code: -------------------- # SlimServer Copyright (c) 2001-2005 Sean Adams, Slim Devices Inc. -------------------- because many of us started with the core code. With LPSL, third-party developers have to write everything from scratch, relying on what little documentation Logitech provides. Slim Devices wasn't the best at documentation -- certainly there's nothing like a Javadoc or MSDN set of official, published APIs. But Logitech is no better, and with recent reorgs, there are fewer developers at Logitech working on ever-more-complex software, so the documentation is unlikely to improve much in the near future. Switching to the LPSL is a rational business decision -- Logitech wanted to prevent a "clone" market using its software (maybe Roku Soundbridge hurt them, or maybe they're just cautious). But one of the effects of this defensive move is that third-party development is more difficult. In any case, the software is not "open source" by the 'commonly accepted definition' (http://opensource.org/docs/osd) of the phrase. -- peterw http://www.tux.org/~peterw/ Free plugins: 'AllQuiet' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/AllQuiet.html) 'Auto Dim/AutoDisplay' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/AutoDisplay.html) 'BlankSaver' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/BlankSaver.html) 'ContextMenu' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/ContextMenu.html) 'DenonSerial' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/DenonSerial.html) 'FuzzyTime' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/FuzzyTime.html) 'KidsPlay' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/KidsPlay.html) 'KitchenTimer' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/KitchenTimer.html) 'PlayLog' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/PlayLog.html) 'PowerCenter/BottleRocket' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/PowerCenter.html) 'SaverSwitcher' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SaverSwitcher.html) 'SettingsManager' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SettingsManager.html) 'SleepFade' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SleepFade.html) 'StatusFirst' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/StatusFirst.html) 'SyncOptions' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SyncOptions.html) 'VolumeLock' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/VolumeLock.html) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ peterw's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2107 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=73698 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
