On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 21:34:03 -0500
Timothy Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Apparently, Sun is open-sourcing the design to their UltraSPARC
> processor. Is this a good sign for open hardware designs, or is it a
> sign that Sun doesn't see much future in their SPARC processor, so
> what could it hurt? :)
I don't exactly know what Sun is planning here, but
i can see that the whole OSS thing they do is a strugle
to stay afloat. I doubt that the license they choose
for the OpenSparc project will be of any use (ie, it
will be tainting and restrictive like the one for
OpenSolaris). Beside that the functional verilog
code doesn't help much in building a high end processor
as it still has to be fit into a certain production process.
Ie it's only half of the work needed.
On the other hand, i have to admit that it creates
a nice mood in the hardware/software industry to
release their stuff in a somewhat open license
so that we could have a look at them.
But please keep in mind that there is also a threat
that these code bases could be used to break the
whole OSS movement by accusing people to have used
this or that piece from a code base that doesnt
alow the use in a GPL/GPL-like context.
(See the whole discussion about the OpenSolaris
license)
Attila Kinali
--
wer soviel schoggi isst, kann sowieso nicht dumm sein ;-)
-- Sandra
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