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Hmmmm. Maybe some potential.

Story: Skype To Provide Open-Source Linux ClientTotal Replies: 7
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dinotrac

Nov 03, 2009
10:28 AM EST 		In the world of all things wonderful, everything is free and open and nobody gets paid.

Wish my creditors/utility companies/etc would buy into that.

There could be potential for a model whereby a little secret "kernel" is created with a well-defined and complete API that is made available to all developers and all platforms on a non-discriminatory basis. I would love, for example, to see such a thing for QAM decryption, so that free programs could display encrypted cable content. Maybe a little blue-ray mod.

Maybe stuff embedded in hardware, I don't know.
Sander_Marechal

Nov 03, 2009
10:54 AM EST 		"little kernel"? I assume you mean firmware. One option for hardware makers has always been to move things the didn't want to open source from the driver into a ROM firmware. That way you can create open source drivers and still not disclose their IP. They just have to provide a cross-platform way of updating firmware.
ABCC

Nov 03, 2009
11:36 AM EST 		According to Skype they're currently developing an "open source" UI, behnd closed doors....

http://share.skype.com/sites/linux/2009/11/skype_open_source...
dinotrac

Nov 03, 2009
12:00 PM EST 		Sander -

Yes, firmware would be a good example.
jdixon

Nov 03, 2009
12:23 PM EST 		> Wish my creditors/utility companies/etc would buy into that.

Remember the prediction of electricity "too cheap to meter" from the 1950's? :(
dinotrac

Nov 03, 2009
12:29 PM EST 		Oh hey! It's too cheap to meter, just not too cheap to charge for.
moopst

Nov 03, 2009
5:20 PM EST 		That's what we have for the Internet right now at least. You just pay for the connection. I wouldn't be too surprised if they start charging by the bit.
hkwint

Nov 03, 2009
6:30 PM EST
Quoting:I wouldn't be too surprised if they start charging by the bit.


They still do that in many countries. One of the reasons I bought Gentoo on CD instead of downloading: The DVD was $10, downloading the same stuff was about $47 or so.

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