Re: GPL V3 and Linux - Dead Copyright Holders

[Pierre Ossman <drzeus-list@drzeus.cx>]

Karim Yaghmour wrote:
> Pierre Ossman wrote:
>   
>> This whole DRM:d hardware issue is a bit different though since it seems
>> to be moving to a point where it cannot be avoided. "Vote with your
>> wallet" fails when there are so few of us that care about these things.
>> With they way electronics are packaged nowadays (chip packages that is),
>> it's getting increasingly difficult to build your own stuff. My fear is
>> that open source will be something you can only fiddle with on your ten
>> year old computer from the pre-DRM era.
>>     
>
> Forgive me, but I don't subscribe to this cataclysmic scenario. The only
> reason it's getting increasingly difficult to build your own stuff is
> because the chip manufacturers are interested in making money, and to
> do that they have to answer market demand, and market demand nowadays
> is for gizmos/systems that have an ever-increasing number of features
> and ever-increasing performance requirements. Cell phones are a prime
> example. So, yes, it would be totally impossible to think today that
> any single group of individuals could reproduce the early Apple era,
> but that's just life -- things get complicated with time.
>
>   

That's understandable. I cannot require them to go out of their way to
accommodate my desire for tinkering. When they decide to actually put
time and effort into preventing me from tinkering then I get a bit
annoyed. I still cannot really do much about it though. If people keep
buying the crap then it will continue to be produced. What I can do is
say that such a system is not allowed to be based on my work. It may not
matter in the long run, but at least I'm doing something. Things might
get better by itself, or worse for that matter, but I'd prefer to not
stand idly by, hoping it will go the way I'd like.

I try to not sound like a doomsday prophet, but I tend to get a bit
worked up when I consider what it would be like with this DRM nonsense
taken to the extreme. :)

Rgds
Pierre