Re: Flame Linus to a crisp!

Werner Almesberger (wa@almesberger.net)
Thu, 24 Apr 2003 19:29:41 -0300


Alan Cox wrote:
> Either its allowed by the GPL or its not.

A more important barrier than what the GPL allows might be what the
Linux community accepts. If some DRM extensions are never accepted
by enough of the "mainstream", they will fail to work.

The main problem I see with accepting DRM functionality is that it
will encourage frivolous uses of DRM, just because it's possible
then. Just like most vendors instinctively default to closed
source.

It's also worth to keep in mind that such decisions are frequently
taken by people with very different agendas, e.g. if "protected by
DRM" is perceived to appeal to analysts, shareholders or potential
shareholders, it may quickly become policy in many companies, just
like patents did.

- Werner

-- 
  _________________________________________________________________________
 / Werner Almesberger, Buenos Aires, Argentina         wa@almesberger.net /
/_http://www.almesberger.net/____________________________________________/
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/