Had some time to kill today, so I surfed the net, reading about my new GPS. Turns out that TomTom uses a 2.6 Linux kernel to run their hardware. It’s modified, of course, but it’s still a Linux kernel.
Why is it that there isn’t a Linux version of the software required to connect it to a computer, then? Why is Linux acceptable in the GPS but not outside it?
This has been a matter of some contention. TomTom also had to be beaten into releasing their modifications under the GPL. I suspect they’re now wishing they’d behaved better toward the free software community before.
That said, Groklaw’s reactivated just because of this case. That’s the Open Source equivalent of the skies over Redmond darkening with lawyers.
I wasn’t aware of Groklaw being reactivated. I’ll need to take a look, so thanks.
It’s a shame. TomTom makes terrific hardware, and considering what they run inside, this whole thing should have been a non-issue.