1.) How did Tenon acquire this blackmail option over the Macintosh (Mac OS X specifically, not Mac OS 9?) implementation of Hardware OpenGL for Xfree86 in the first place?
2.) When did Tenon acquire this blackmail option on Hardware OpenGL?
3.) What part of XFree86 and/or X (X11R6.4?), among the numerous many components and pieces that comprise Xfree86 and X, is the *specific* component(s) that provides Hardware OpenGL capability, when compiled for the Macintosh (Mac OS X)?
4.) How did Apple deprecate Tenon's blackmail option? Did a patent owned by Tenon finally expire? Did Apple license a patent or license software from Tenon? If so, at what cost? I'm an Apple shareholder and would like to know.
5.) Under what license does Apple's release of the specific component(s) comprising Hardware OpenGL for Xfree86 on the PowerPC architecture fall? GPL? LGPL? APSL? Something else? Does not Apple's release of X11 contain proprietary code?
Thank you for further elaborating, lenny. I believe this is a relevant topic that should not be dismissed. Please help me to understand the explicit differences between Xfree86 (that I am still currently running via Fink installation with XDarwin) and Apple's X11. I never want to get myself into a situation where the software I'm using is proprietary. I can tell that you're happy about Apple's release of X11 and Tenon losing its grip, but I am afraid to download Apple's X11 and install it ... fearful that I might get hooked into something proprietary.
Furthermore to my worry about any part of X11 released by Apple under APSL (or some other restrictive license), there has been some controversy recently about the APSL, in addition to the DMCA. See that proclus of GNU-Darwin is dropping PPC support of GNU-Darwin:
http://www.macslash.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/18/2332242&mode=flat
Posted By: proclus
Date: 2002-12-18 11:07
Summary: FREE Darwin!
I'm getting ready to draft the yearly report, which is only a little late ;-}. The Distribution has grown and progressed significantly, and undergone many positive changes, thanks to the efforts talented developers all over the world. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things that haven't changed, and it is necessary for us to step up our stridency and activism IMHO. I'm posting these concerns here first, before the report gets written.
First, Apple continues the wall-of-silence with respect to their repugnant DMCA-based legal action, and there is no reason whatsoever for us to think that they will not undertake similar action in the future. It is regrettable that the DMCA was Apple-sponsored legislation, and it is now time for them to disavow it and promise never to employ it.
Second, APSL is languishing, and it is unacceptable to the free software community. It is now time for an APSL revision, which brings the license in line with the free software definition in accordance with the expectations of GNU Project.
In response to the inaction on these crucial items, we are taking two actions.
First, we are making explicit and binding the following policy. GNU-Darwin will not support or distribute any software which links to proprietary libraries, and that includes Cocoa, Carbon, CoreAudio, etc. There will be no native package manager from GNU-Darwin (pkg_add suffices).
Second, we will be moving our operations to x86, and we are putting the ppc collection into maintenance mode.
As always, please feel free to contact me about these issues as well as any other concern.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
Thus, in line with what proclus has said about his policy in the context of the APSL needing a "revision", and thus no longer supporting or distributing any software which links to proprietary libraries, I'd like to know just what the heck is going on here with Apple's X11 and what Tenon's legacy is regarding the Hardware GL for Xfree86.
What about the future of XDarwin???
Thank you very very much for helping me further understand this very important topic.
-Brendan
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 02:27 AM, lenny bruce wrote:
On Monday, January 20, 2003, at 09:14 AM, KaOs wrote:
I wonder if Apple will make it impossible for Fink to continue to develop
as it has by the introduction of developer tool changes. The reason I ask
this is that the EULA forbids the "patching" of add-ons to the "embedded"
Mac apps for OS X. Apple is, in other words, giving independent developers
a hard time. They support OpenDarwin, but they do not even mention Fink as
an alternative. It seems to me that there is little, if any, cooperation
of Apple to the Fink Project. The recent "upgrade" that put the Fink
project on hold for months eloquently demonstrates that.., as does the
recent choice of an inferior browser as "default".
So I would like to know what is the reality of the Fink situation in
relation to Apple......, and should I begin thinking of a complete Debian
PPC Woody "take-over" install on my hard drive?
Chaos is freedom!
Realize that Apple did this for the opposite reason...
X11 on Mac OS X was being crippled by a bully in the marketplace: TENON.
Your assumption about Apple's motives would be correct in most instances
but this one because Apple's motive was to destroy Tenon's illegal hegemony.
Apple's corporate customers were fleeing because Tenon was illegally preventing
the free release of XFree86 with Hardware OpenGL support on Mac OS X.
Apple's motives in releasing X11 was to stop the hemorrhaging.
Apple has no interest in X11 because they're following the NeXT philosophy
of using their own window server to serve their own kind of programs.
X11 is the window server every other flavor of UNIX uses to serve programs.
Apple hacked NeXT's window server to broaden its horizons beyond Cocoa
to serve windows for Carbon, Java, and the Classic compatibility layer.
X11 on Mac OS X began as a hobby-like interest in the possibilities of OS X
that Tenon illegally hijacked with criminal racketeering so they could profit.
Nobody knows what means Tenon used to force XonX to keep HW OpenGL from XFree86
but Apple invalidated the scheme by releasing it for free.
It wouldn't be a big deal if HW OpenGL support in XFree86
was payware on any other platform... but it's free everywhere else.
Now it's free on Mac OS X and Tenon can go back under a rock for all we care.
lenny bruce I am not a comedian,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] I am Lenny Bruce.
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