Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Fri, 18 Sep 1998 17:50:54 -0700
From:      Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
To:        ralf@uni-koblenz.de
Cc:        Andrzej Bialecki <abial@nask.pl>, chad@dcfinc.com, Chris Avis <c.avis@rama.com.au>, linux-embedded@waste.org, freebsd-small@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Linux or FreeBSD 
Message-ID:  <199809190050.RAA02275@dingo.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 17 Sep 1998 03:20:08 %2B0200." <19980917032008.E437@uni-koblenz.de> 

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> On Wed, Sep 16, 1998 at 09:13:06AM +0200, Andrzej Bialecki wrote:
> 
> > Also, my personal opinion is that it's much easier to use FreeBSD in
> > commercial situations, because GPL requires you to publish your kernel
> > modifications, which is bad. You don't have this problem with FreeBSD (see
> > commercial examples of Whistle's InterJet and www.gta.com GnatBox).
> 
> And yet we've choosen Linux for the Cobalt Qube without even seriously
> considering any othe variant.
> 
> In most cases the (C) is just a mental problem, not a real one.

That depends.  You're willing to send me a copy of your GPL-tainted
source? You won't mind when I repackage it as the Red Rock and start
selling it against you with only a small fraction of your development
overheads?

I realise that the Qube isn't actually anything remarkable other than 
in terms of packaging, but for many products the GPL simply isn't 
viable, and this is why most of them don't use Linux.  Most notably, 
anyone doing anything interesting inside the kernel (eg. GnatBox).

Still, pick what works for you, and stick with it.  Either way, you
often end up so far ahead of where you'd be with a closed embedded 
platform that the differences between GPL or BSD codebase is lost in 
the noise. 8)


-- 
\\  Sometimes you're ahead,       \\  Mike Smith
\\  sometimes you're behind.      \\  mike@smith.net.au
\\  The race is long, and in the  \\  msmith@freebsd.org
\\  end it's only with yourself.  \\  msmith@cdrom.com



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-small" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199809190050.RAA02275>