On 04/16/2015 02:47 PM, Valdis.Kletnieks@xxxxxx wrote: > We're comparing closed Coverty-as-a-service with closed Google-as-a-service. > Seems like a good analogy to me. well it isn't. It is not demonizing them to state the facts. First of all, search engines do something you can't do with software, which is crawl the internet. The correct analogy is what google is doing with android, which indeed is repulsive because it is inhibiting access and development on the platform, and then worse than that, claiming that it is all "open" when really it is not. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/ I have the source code for the kernel here. If Coventry would be interested in selling me a free software of their application, I might be interested. But I'm not interested in putting kernel tools behind slavewalls. That is exactly the opposite of what I want to do and defies my very Raison E'Stat for studying the Linux Kernel.... nono. If you find this Demonizing, it is not I who does this, it is facts stated forthrightly and dispassionately. Someone who uses closed proprietary software as a service to access the Linux Kernel Source is cutting off the very air to free software development by supporting non-free tools that compete with free tools in learning about the source code. Using free software tools is not a technological decision. It is a political decision (as all decisions ultimately are). It is a decision to exercise freedom over a __lack__ of freedom. Aside from that, the question of google is irrelevant to this conversation and is just a distraction. Tow wrongs don't make a right. A company that has a search engine that uses published free software would be much more desirable than one that doesn't do that. No one wants to penalize anyone for selling software services. But that is not reason to abandon free software tools for the studying of the kernel in order to adopt a proprietary scheme of secret software sold as a service. That would just be irrational. Ruben _______________________________________________ Kernelnewbies mailing list Kernelnewbies@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.kernelnewbies.org/mailman/listinfo/kernelnewbies
