Well, if I were replying, I might reply like this. >>>>>I identify with your concern to make our OS completely free software. We do make a lot of our software available freely at our GitHub repo ( https://github.com/endlessm/ ), but unfortunately currently not all of it. The answer for why is complex, it involves a large combination of business, strategy, community and legal reasons.
Not all of the content we've shipped on the computers is free data, we sometimes partner with other organizations to get it. We've talked about shipping the software freely available without the assets, but it's not really viable from a legal perspective. >>>>> I'm not exactly sure why the content can't be separated from the software. Does it have to do with how the software is already written? Also, have you considered using free content for those things instead? >>>>Finally, any successful free software project needs a thriving community: our developers come from that world, and we really don't want to do over-the-wall code dumps like Android does. When we open up our software, we want to do it right. We're currently focused on our target market and users, and that means we change fast. We'd likely never accept any pull requests or patches submitted to us. People could inspect and modify and redistribute the code, indeed, but without the ability to contribute back upstream, it seems like an empty promise.>>>> You are never required to accept any patches. A lot of times it seems like more work to add new developers and get them up to speed, but ultimately it can pay off. Another thing a lotof commercial companies using open source do is make all contributors sign an agreement assigning them thecopyrights to all the contributions, allowing the company to dual license it however they would like, includingadding it to a proprietary project with additional features. >>>>>>>>>As for business reasons, making more of our code free software can be a business risk. We're a small startup with limited funding trying to take on big players. Even big companies sometimes get in trouble with free software. See the recent news about Cyanogenmod being funded by Microsoft to take down Google's Android. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/microsoft-to-invest-in-cyanogen-hopes-to-take-android-away-from-google/ We're currently not willing to take on such risks right now. >>>> It is true that other companies are free to fork it, but this is easier said than done. You already have a lot of otherassets that would separate you from any forks including the hardware, brand name, marketing, support and distribution channels. To really be successful, a company would also have to duplicate all of those other things. Generally companies large enough to compete on those points are notably risk averse and will probably not bother to launch a competing product until youhave already well established yourselves. Finally, you should consider the benefits to making it all free software. Making it free software increases the size of your market and allows it to be more useful to a larger number of people. >>>>>> I hope you'll understand that our goals might be different from yours, and we have gave the question a lot of thought. As we grow and become more successful, we'll be able to make more of our software free software over time. Thanks for the excellent question, and I hope I've given you some perspective on our decision.>>>>> I understand that you are primarily concerned with making a profit and providing computers to the developing world, however I see making it all free software an advantage to your customers as well as yourselves. In addition, making it free softwarenow rather than waiting till later ensures that it will be free software, and most likely an easier process. On Friday, April 17, 2015 2:04 AM, Advrk Aplmrkt <[email protected]> wrote: Dear list, I have recently learned of a charitable computer project on Kickstarter called Endless Computers: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1381437927/endless-computers It aims to bring a good and education computing experience to a wider audience in the developing world. I perceive a lot of love and passion behind this project. However, I was concerned about the software freedom behind it, so I emailed the developers. Apparently they have much of their code on GitHub, but is reluctant to run this product on pure Free Software. I think they have understandable concerns (listed in their response below), and I wonder how the folks on this list my reply to those concerns? I don't think just bashing them for not making the software free is constructive, especially when they are actually very well-meaning. Are there tangible examples of how those problems might be alleviated?Thank you!! Their response was: I identify with your concern to make our OS completely free software. We do make a lot of our software available freely at our GitHub repo ( https://github.com/endlessm/ ), but unfortunately currently not all of it. The answer for why is complex, it involves a large combination of business, strategy, community and legal reasons. Not all of the content we've shipped on the computers is free data, we sometimes partner with other organizations to get it. We've talked about shipping the software freely available without the assets, but it's not really viable from a legal perspective. Finally, any successful free software project needs a thriving community: our developers come from that world, and we really don't want to do over-the-wall code dumps like Android does. When we open up our software, we want to do it right. We're currently focused on our target market and users, and that means we change fast. We'd likely never accept any pull requests or patches submitted to us. People could inspect and modify and redistribute the code, indeed, but without the ability to contribute back upstream, it seems like an empty promise. As for business reasons, making more of our code free software can be a business risk. We're a small startup with limited funding trying to take on big players. Even big companies sometimes get in trouble with free software. See the recent news about Cyanogenmod being funded by Microsoft to take down Google's Android. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/microsoft-to-invest-in-cyanogen-hopes-to-take-android-away-from-google/ We're currently not willing to take on such risks right now. I hope you'll understand that our goals might be different from yours, and we have gave the question a lot of thought. As we grow and become more successful, we'll be able to make more of our software free software over time. Thanks for the excellent question, and I hope I've given you some perspective on our decision.
