Why Do Commercial Offerings Use Linux, But Not Support Linux Users?

Michele Alessandrini writes "Having bought several TomTom One navigation systems at work, I was browsing their web site to find information about maps. There are several pages of documentation about their devices. In one of them, they proudly inform you that their devices use Linux, as a warranty of power and stability. They even prominently display their GPL compatibility. But, when you come to the software (the one used to manage updates, set locations, etc), they only support Windows and Mac OS. Not that surprising, and not a real necessity. Just the same, they probably saved millions of dollars using a free kernel and didn't think to support Linux users. As Linux gains ground in commercial applications like this, how often are we going to see actual users of the OS left out in the cold? Why don't more Linux-using shops reach out to the Linux-using community?"

Comments

for the same reason

[darth_linux]

Novell can buy a Linux, partner, with M$, and be a "Linux company". It's good to use Linux to our advantage and bad to support Linux when it doesn't. (Mod -15 karma. you know you want to)

Re:Are Linux/GPL advocates being hypocritical?

[FishWithAHammer]

You are either a troll or a moron.

The GPL devs are not "giving it back" to the BSD devs, because the BSD devs can't use it in their projects

I know it's tasty and makes you feel good, but step back from the RMS Kool-Aid.