Re: GPL version 3

[David Cottrill <david.cottrill@nchsoftware.com>]

> if you ship a hardware device that runs a e.g. a debian-live
> distribution *and*
> 
>   * given that you do proper comply to the source compliance
>     requirements of GPL-3, *and*
> 
>   * further given that you do not make it harder to install any other
>     OS or distribution (be it based on the published sources or not)
>     than it is to through the usual mechanisms of how an OS
> installation
>     happens on that particular said device,
> 
> then you are not fulfiling the matter of fact under 'obfuscating
> access
> to the device', also know as tivoization and therefore, there is no
> problem.
> 


The condition of allowing users to install a different operating system
seems a lot less stringent than allowing users to access the underlying
system.

The underlying system is affected by GPL-3 and so users can not be
hindered in their access to it. This is the crux of my problem - the
underlying system is not user friendly, nor can it be made so to satisfy
usability tests (can users use it without being able to break the
system).

I could put in a generic option to permanently disable the closed source
parts of the box if users insisted on using the underlying system but
that to me is a poor option. If I didn't permanently disable the closed
source parts then we would be forced to support devices that had unknown
modifications - a worse option.

David