[MeeGo-dev] [Meego-community] Proposal: A vendor social contract

[Adrian Yanes]

On 24 March 2010 19:01, Robinson Tryon <bishop.robinson at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 1:38 PM, Adrian Yanes <devel at ayanes.com> wrote:
>>
>> Maybe the social contract sounds very free-software "fanatic" for a
>> company, but is one of the best warranties to offer a complete open
>> source project.
>>
>> Besides, it would be a signal of commitment with the community, and it
>> will encourage participation in the development.
>
> I agree that some companies might have initial reservations about the
> social contract, but we can explain to them that *they don't have to
> sign it*. We're happy to have them use Meego and are perfectly willing
> to let them fold-in binary drivers (of their own or someone else's
> manufacture) on their own devices.
>
> It's just that if they sign the contract and commit drivers and other
> code back to Meego core, the community will help them maintain,
> bugfix, and even improve that code. For no cost.
>
> Let's lead with a carrot here. Maybe only a handful of vendors will
> sign initially, but we may be able to convince more to join as they
> observe the benefits of open development.
>
> On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 2:10 PM, Wichmann, Mats D
> <mats.d.wichmann at intel.com> wrote:
>> My completely personal, completely unofficial reaction is
>> that this would have a LOT of problems on the Tivoization
>> front, as it seems to me everybody below the netbook and
>> possible tablet type device is interested in some level of
>> locking down their image... Don't know if it looks that
>> way to the rest of you or I'm just being too pessimistic?
>
> I agree that several vendors are locking down their small devices
> (just look at all of the jailbreaking/rooting going on in the
> Apple/Android camps), however I think that as hardware gets smaller
> and cheaper there will be an increasing number of vendors who offer
> ever-cheaper hardware without any such lock-downs.

Cheaper? Did you check the manufacturer cost of iPhone / Nexus one?

I don't think the problem are the costs, is the mentality of the vendors.



>
> The practice of locked-down, subsidized phones will continue as long
> as there are users buying-in to the system and as long as it remains
> legal to enforce such lockdowns. The current price of smart phone
> hardware is so high that it restricts outright ownership to only a
> small segment of the population. As cheaper hardware becomes
> available, purchasing an unlocked phone will become a viable
> alternative for an increasing number of people.
>