[Fsf-friends] Simputer on BBC : Missing the point
Alexandre Dulaunoy
alexandre.dulaunoy@ael.be
Fri Apr 2 16:49:03 IST 2004
On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 doxa@sancharnet.in wrote:
> > 1. * Simputer for poor goes on sale * (Frederick Noronha (FN))
> >A cheap handheld computer created by Indian scientists is launched
> >after a delay of nearly three years.
>
> Fred,
> I think BBC missed the point here. The Simputer happens to be the
> >first hardware experiment on GPL using the FSF mode of
> >development.
Except that the license for the Simputer is non-free[3]. You cannot
make commercial use of the hardware :
"Any commercial exploitation of the Specifications (whether Simputer
or Simputerized) involves a nominal one time payment to the Trust. The
payment will be $25,000 for developing countries and $250,000 for
developed countries."
Ok, it's better than nothing but I would be happy if the simputer
Trust will move to an opencores[1] style of licensing[2] and become
really free.
[1] http://www.opencores.org/
[2] http://www.opencores.org/faq.cgi/section/4/4.1#4.1
[3] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
"A program is free software if users have all of these freedoms. Thus,
you should be free to redistribute copies, either with or without
modifications, either gratis or charging a fee for distribution, to
anyone anywhere. Being free to do these things means (among other
things) that you do not have to ask or pay for permission. "
--
** Alexandre Dulaunoy (adulau) **** http://www.foo.be/ **** 0x44E6CBCD
**/ "To disable the Internet to save EMI and Disney is the moral
**/ equivalent of burning down the library of Alexandria to ensure the
**/ livelihood of monastic scribes." Jon Ippolito.
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