Java's Father on why qi-hardware is screwed.

JDH services jaydeeaich at gmail.com
Thu Sep 30 00:12:45 EDT 2010


On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 2:13 AM, Wolfgang Spraul <wolfgang at sharism.cc> wrote:
> "Java's Father on why Qi copyleft hardware has a great future"
>
>> James Gosling:  I mean this is one of the reasons that hardware
>> manufacturers often don't open source their drivers. Because if they
>> open source their drivers, then other hardware manufacturers will look
>> at that and go, oh, well your hardware must stomp on this patent
>> device.
>
> He's right. That's the old way of doing things, but the new way is
> copyleft hardware: embrace the concept of free software and content,
> build hardware that is a perfect match for free software.
>
> Focus on manufacturing quality, longevity, customer service.
> Not on information hoarding, customer lock-in with proprietary software
> or patents.

And how are you working on and keeping other people from locking
Qi-Hardware out?

Patents are the hardware project equivalent of land mines: each design
decision carries a risk of stepping on a patent, which can destroy
your project.

Developing a large and complex device means combining many ideas,
often hundreds or thousands of them. In a country that allows patents,
chances are that some substantial fraction of the ideas in your device
will be patented already by various companies. Perhaps hundreds of
patents will cover parts of your device.

The copyleft software movement is fighting software patents.

On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 1:26 AM, Allin Kahrl <osokuro at gmail.com> wrote:
> We defy the very system you say will destroy us.

I don't see Qi defying the patent system

Remember the talk about a Qi-hardware MIPS core since it's 25 years
old and so should be patent free?

On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 1:09 AM, Wolfgang Spraul <wolfgang at sharism.cc> wrote:
> ICT (and Loongson) is basically the Chinese government. Even though
> Loongson was created and designed from day 1 to not be affected by
> the patents (the 4 missing instructions, independently implemented),
> in the end MIPS forced the Chinese government to pay. All smaller
> Chinese MIPS clones know what that means, and what they are supposed
> to do now.
>
> The attempt to create a royalty-free CPU around MIPS instruction sets
> failed.



Sincerely,
Panthera Tigris Altaica




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