Re: [LAU] Fairlight

On Thu, October 25, 2012 9:21 am, Paul Davis wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 6:10 PM, Patrick Shirkey
> <pshirkey@email-addr-hidden
>> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Please explain why it would be a negative thing for the Consortium to
>> take
>> on such a role?
>>
>> Would you prefer for random people with no specific affiliation to do
>> the
>> job or would you prefer for it to not be done at all?
>>
>
> They have no legal obligation to anyone except their customers. How does
> it
> appear (and more importantly how does it help) if an essentially random
> 3rd
> party weighs in? That's a genuine non-rhetorical question
>

It surely doesn't hurt if the "Linux Audio Consortium" sends a friendly
and polite note to effectively say...

"Hey, we noticed you are using Linux and open source software in your
audio/multimedia hardware and we thought you might be interested in the
following information regarding GPL and various legal obligations. While
you are reading we have also included some background info about the use
of Linux and Open Source for Audio Hardware."

> There's no way to know, but its entirely possible that there isn't a
> single
> modified line of any GPL'ed code anywhere in their system. They could be
> running an entirely stock version of everything, and be under zero
> obligation to do anything except include a small note somewhere to
> customers that if they really want to download the source code to glibc,
> the kernel etc, then look in the following places. This is precisely what
> Apple does with Darwin, which includes quite a number of GPL'ed
> components.
>

Officially informing them of that obligation, while also potentially
offering to assist with any questions they might have provides an
opportunity for the Consortium to provide a layer of "service" that
*might* give companies that choose to use Linux and Open Source software
for Audio/Video/Multimedia some additional confidence that they are not
going to do their reputations/Brand any damage with negative publicity in
the unlikely event of a legal challenge.

It's not a threat just an opportunity to reach out and potentially give
them the confidence to contribute directly rather than keeping *all* their
advances to themselves for fear of loosing a competitive advantage or
getting themselves into hot water with authors of code that they might
build on.

It's just a way for the company to say. We acknowledge that we are
building on Open source technology and IP and we are prepared to be
transparent about our use of it.

If all the businesses that use Linux Audio Software are actively
contributing back into the community then we have greater leverage for
positive publicity and it's highly probable that everyone will gain
through the shared IP and knowledge.

--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd
_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user@email-addr-hidden
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user