http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/There's also noise on the ClamAV mailing lists that Xandros bundles an anti-virus program that is basically ClamAV with the name changed ... and they don't distribute the source to that, EITHER.

]]>Nov 25th 2007 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 26th 2007 9:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 2:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/You obviously have not been paying attention to the news and how the SFLC sued Monsoon Media for not redistributing their modified source code with their hardware.
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS3973290690.html]]>Nov 25th 2007 4:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/]]>Nov 25th 2007 5:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/"You be got to be kidding me"]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/"kids say the darndest things"]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/"Jello Pudding"]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/]]>Nov 25th 2007 4:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
If Asus releases the source to what they changed averything will be good and Asus will be popular among linux users for the decision. ]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
You have a major company that's released an Ultra Portable Very Open Linux machine as a mass market device, and a few sites are going nuts over some technical point that the non-initiated can't even understand.

This is a corporation, why not wait for Monday or Tuesday before all you techno-elites get all up in arms.

Is there any reason why they shouldn't be given the benefit of the doubt that they'll set things straight still at this point?]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
If they haven't released the source, how would you know if the license was removed from it?]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 4:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Here, I'll save you the keystrokes:

The foundation of GPL,

* the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
* the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors,
* the freedom to change the software to suit your needs, and
* the freedom to share the changes you make.

Developers who write software can release it under the terms of the GNU GPL. When they do, it will be free software and stay free software, no matter who changes or distributes the program. We call this copyleft: the software is copyrighted, but instead of using those rights to restrict users like proprietary software does, we use them to ensure that every user has freedom.

Not that hard is it?

This info's been out since at least Wednesday. Not a long time, granted, but how long would it take to release the source code and attributions?]]>Nov 25th 2007 5:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 6:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
You can't recover comments through disassembly.]]>Nov 25th 2007 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
from the disassembled asus_acpi.ko from centos4

modinfo:080014A0 __mod_author74 db 'author=Julien Lerouge, Karol Kozimor',0
.modinfo:080014E0 __mod_description75 db 'description=Asus Laptop ACPI Extras Driver',0
.modinfo:0800150B __mod_license76 db 'license=GPL',0

]]>Nov 25th 2007 9:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Ahh, I see. Gracias.]]>Nov 26th 2007 9:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
While I love the EeePC, and want to buy one myself, I won't be doing so until they step up and share their code, just like everyone else does. Unless people do that, linux (in the larger sense) stops working, and if it stops working it'll stop being a useful tool for companies like Asus, and for users in general, not just developers.

That said, I don't think you can expect any end users to care at all. Most folks these days are O.K. with turning a blind eye to human rights violations incurred in the process of producing the things we buy, so who's going to give a damn about software politics?]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 26th 2007 2:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Long live Tux!]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 3:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Nice job, Asus.]]>Nov 25th 2007 3:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 4:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
The validity and authority of GPL must be kept at the highest level possible, for the sake of the software development world, and for the authors of the code. If they, the authors, wished for the code to be published, then their wishes should be recognized.

Any violations, even by those who may not produce nearly as much software as the bigger titans like MS, or the financial firms, must be reported. The use of the GPL-licensed Linux kernel is not an exception.

On a side note, there are more than one kevs? Yaay!]]>Nov 25th 2007 4:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
(t'other kev)]]>Nov 25th 2007 4:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Thus if they do release the code to this, it will only be whatever code was open source already since this company seems to like making their stuff proprietary instead of open source, which they have the right to do on any code they develop themselves.

This Linux developing company is very sketchy however, as they have one completely open source version of their OS, stripped of their proprietary components, yet when you ask to download it, they supply you with their propriety demo version and say the open source version is currently not available. Now theres one for another article Engadge, I dare you to try to get your hands on it... doubt you ever will!]]>Nov 25th 2007 4:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Xandros's license has no bearing in this regard. If you use GPL'ed programs you must provide the source. No ifs ands or buts about it. The GPL is about making access to software source code free.]]>Nov 27th 2007 12:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Its not that complicated.

I purged Xandros off the eee about 5 minutes after I got it for Ubuntu. I have to use ndiswrapper but I haven't had any issues with it. ]]>Nov 25th 2007 5:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
I fully expect that ASUS will release the code soon, and people will cool off. What we're doing right now is holding them accountable for their actions, and I don't see any reason why they wouldn't do what's right here. Give them a day or two.]]>Nov 25th 2007 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 27th 2007 10:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
This is an important issue, as IF there is infringing code, then that would be breaking the licence Asus entered into when they chose to use that code. ]]>Nov 25th 2007 5:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 26th 2007 12:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 5:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
Asus is a Taiwanese company.]]>Nov 25th 2007 11:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
People some people here may not understand how corporations work. Ok, it's been known since Wednesday. Thursday through present is Thanksgiving in the US. They probably aren't going to do anything now that linux people are so excited without talking to US attorneys, which I imagine have been on vacation. So no time has yet passed in the Corporate World.

To the other point. Contracts do not equal Freedom. Contracts are usually binding. You can not be bound and still be free.

Doensn't mean the GPL ain't great. but freedom it ain't either.

Freedom sounds nice. But very few people seem to really want freedom. ]]>Nov 25th 2007 6:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20071024134655015&board_id=20&model=Eee+PC+4G(701)&page=1&SLanguage=zh-tw]]>Nov 25th 2007 6:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 11:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/
I think the problem wasn't finding it, it's finding the modifications and attributions...]]>Nov 25th 2007 11:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 11:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 28th 2007 7:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/25/does-the-asus-eeepc-violate-the-linux-gpl/Nov 25th 2007 8:22PM