On 27/05/14 00:49, peter green wrote:
Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
good point. let me think... i know: if he doesn't listen then i will resign. that would terminate the project as he needs my technical expertise
Your associate blacklisted someone because of a single launch product launch gone bad and that blacklisting extends not just to not collaborating with them on a product launch again (which would be perfecting understandable) but to banning them from using EOMA.
By doing so he has sent the message "we will ban people from using EOMA for reasons other than using the EOMA name on a product that doesn't meet the spec". That is a seriously worrying message for anyone considering implementing EOMA based products.
I have to agree that Luke's argument is not great: how much expertise is required to say "no"? And any uncertainty about hardware freedom is a valid concern for potential contributors.
BUT, I think we're getting rather hung up on hypotheticals here. Luke started the whole projet to get mass-produced hardware that runs free software natively, respecting the GPL. He's put a huge amount of effort into that, trying many different avenues to progress. Such hardware would be great, even in the unlikely that the it were restricted in some way. Imagine if Samsung sold a totally unlocked chromebook with proper GPL drivers for everything. We'd all be thrilled.