[mythtv-users] Legality of selling MythTV and its Components?

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Wed May 3 20:28:20 UTC 2006


On May 3, 2006, at 1:40 PM, Jesse Guardiani wrote:

> I wish a lawyer would speak up on these issues. Currently it looks  
> like
>
> I hope Brian Woods and a few others who have vehemently opposed the
> commercialization
> of mythtv won't boycott my products merely because the description
> mentions that it can be
> used with mythtv. I just want to provide inexpensive, pre-assembled
> solutions to the community.
> I don't think there is anything illegal about that.

I do not oppose the commercialization of MythTV, vehemently or  
otherwise.

What I do oppose is doing something that our US data supplier has  
publicly stated they have a problem with. I don't care about the  
legal issues, somebody who is doing me a valuable service has said  
they do not want you doing what's been proposed, it's a moral issue  
to me, not a legal one.

If you can make a deal with Tribune and have their blessing to use  
their service, or make a similar deal with somebody else to provide a  
similar service, I will support you as much as I can. I would point  
potential customers your way and encourage people to migrate from  
MCE, EYE or others.

However, if you appear to be a threat to the continued operation of a  
system that I have worked hard to make work for me, then I will  
oppose your actions vehemently.

In general I would like to see Open Source Software used in  
mainstream products. Unfortunately, in almost every case that I am  
aware of (TiVo, Linksys, GP2X,  et al) the companies involved have  
pushed the absolute limit (and sometimes beyond) of the GPL in an  
effort to gain commercial advantage, violating the spirit if not the  
letter of what Open Source is all about.

There are exceptions, Codeweavers, IBM's JFS and VNC come to mind.  
But the pattern I see is that as soon as hardware gets into the mix  
the trouble starts.



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