On Sat, Sep 15, 2007 at 03:53:02PM +0200, Marc Espie wrote:
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> On Sat, Sep 15, 2007 at 12:33:02PM +0100, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote:
> > On Fri, Sep 14, 2007 at 03:25:38PM -0700, J.C. Roberts wrote:
> > > > I'd love to see how an user who gets a modified binary version has
> > > > the freedom to modify it. Go ahead. Prove me that it doesn't allow
> > > > some users to loose freedom...
> 
> > > Hello again Rui,
> 
> > > the US. Over here, if you own a copy of a program, you can modify it as 
> > > much as you want
> 
> > Good luck doing so without any source code.
> 
> > > Of course, you are free to have strong feelings about whatever you like, 
> > > and hold opinions based on flawed understanding, but as long as you 
> > > insist on remaining uneducated about the laws, you are failing yourself 
> > > and failing your supposed "duty" to make things clear. Please stop.
> 
> > You seem uneducated about how powerless someone is without the freedom to
> > change a program because he has no access to the source code.
> 
> > You stop.
> 
> Nonsense. It's similar to how powerless non-programmer people feel when
> they report a bug and get told to fix it `since they have the source'.

Most people think it's magic, and most don't understand that it may be as
simple as adding a couple of lines (eg:
http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=118232405007254&w=2)

Compare adding that feature in C with adding that feature in machine code and
then tell me how it is similar.

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> And don't get me started on all the linux code that is full of magic
> constants, was written under NDAs, and is about as useful as binary blobs
> for the people who do NOT have access to the NDA documentation...

Yeah, it's a shame, fortunately the pressure seems to be working out (vide ATI).

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> ... or the people who don't care that ATI/nvidia doesn't give their 3D specs
> as long as they provide binary drivers that work under linux/i386.

Yup, very common, unfortunately.

Rui

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