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Liliputing reports:
Chinese chip maker Allwinner has joined the Linux Foundation as part of an effort to improve its relationship with the open source community.
While you can run Ubuntu and other Linux-based software on many tablets and TV boxes with Allwinner chips, the company has a history of violating GPL by failing to make source code available.
The company's involvement with the Linux Foundation could help change that. Maybe.
A few years ago developers discovered they could get Ubuntu and other Linux-based software to run on devices like the Mele A1000 and Rikomagic MK802, which helped make these mini PCs popular with folks looking for more than a simple TV box.
There's even a Sunxi Linux community dedicated to developing open source software for products with Allwinner processors. But the community has called out Allwinner for numerous GPL violations.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday June 16 2015, @12:53PM
The real question should be: why do some hardware makers insist on shipping non-free drivers? Their business is selling hardware, not selling software, so it's not like they'd lose sales if the drivers were open.
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Tuesday June 16 2015, @02:30PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday June 16 2015, @02:41PM
Trade secrets are a mostly bullshit method to bolster your company's image. We had a manager who always used the term "proprietary process" when talking to customers. The idea was to lead the customer to believe we have some uber secret sauce that makes us better. But in reality, it was the same process our competitors use. We just sprinkled it with bullshit to make it sound as if we have a leg up on the other guy. The proper term for that is "marketing".
Some software is kept proprietary simply because the original authors paid someone to develop it. They feel that giving that code away is akin to giving that paid work to competitors for free. Meanwhile their competitors wind up writing the same driver for the same kernel for the same hardware. Spiteful is a better way of putting it. If you have no real secrets that give you a competitive edge, then there is no real reason to keep your work secret.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday June 16 2015, @05:31PM
Let's face it. The "trade secret" that most companies are trying to keep is: "our software sucks, because we hired the cheapest people we could get away with, and then didn't give them enough time to do the job properly." But it's not really a secret, since everyone else does it, too; once they realize that, then they'll realize that it's OK to open-source their drivers.
(Score: 2) by fnj on Tuesday June 16 2015, @02:48PM
The usual apologia is that the maker is subject to some form of non-disclosure agreement with some partner. Be that the case or not, GPU components, such as the Mali, are frequent offenders. Even Intel is closing down part of the GPU on Skylake [slashdot.org], the successor to Broadwell.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Tuesday June 16 2015, @05:23PM
* Because you can use confidence tricks like: "Hey look our stuff is so good we got to keep it secret!" when the real difference is that the GUI has a gray background instead of dark gray.
* Makes it easy to steal code and make it your own.
* Can use patented algorithms and cover it up.
* Cover up really bad coding.
* Forces customers to pay you for any change however slightly.
* Makes it possible enforce obsolescence on perfectly working hardware.
So the producer has many reasons to keep source code closed thus the community must make sure there's a cost to do this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 16 2015, @05:47PM
> Can use patented algorithms and cover it up.
It is worth noting that the IP lawyers explicitly tell the engineers not to try to see if an algorithm they've developed is subject to a patent. So "covering it up" isn't necessarily what's going on. More like, reducing legal exposure. Once again, the lawyers make engineering harder.