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Fonera 2 To Launch With Extended Functionality
The next installment in the Fonera router family is set to make its debut in a couple of weeks, and the additions to the hardware are relatively impressive. Promising full support for networked storage, automatic downloads, sharing of a USB 3G connection, and a few other perks in addition to the normal range of functionality found in the Fonera routers this package packs quite a punch. "Like the original Fonera and Fonera+ routers, the principals of this hippie-love-in-styled product still apply. You buy the router and hook it up to your internet connection as normal. The trick is that the router shares a part of your bandwidth on a public-facing connection. Other Fon owners can log in and use this public network for free. In turn, you — as a Fonera owner — can travel the world and use other Fon hotspots. It's a neat idea and everybody wins, except the money-grabbing telcos."
I think the concept of Fon is excellent. But not all that useful in practice.
I live in a fairly populated area, and there are ~7 Fon routers within a five mile radius of where I live (Go to http://maps.fon.com/ to check around where you live). But every single one of those hotspots is in a residential area. Which is (I think) why I've never actually seen a Fon hotspot when I've been looking for WiFi. And, in the 6 months or so that I've ran a Fon hotspot out of my home, I've had zero outside connections.
I think the key to success for Fon would be to target businesses where people are typically looking for WiFi. Coffee Shops, Hotels and the like. The way it is now, I'd have to camp out on someone's Cul-de-sac to find a Fon hotspot.
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
All that said, it's ridiculous how many people would scream bloody murder over a GPL violation, while they're downloading someone else's content without the publisher's permission.
Two problems with this line of reasoning: 1) They may not be--and most likely aren't--the same people most of the time; Slashdot isn't some sort of group mind; and 2) Most GPL violations are carried out by organizations which otherwise vocally support copyrights, patents, and the like; even if one does not support these concepts oneself, it is still legitimate to judge others' actions by their own rules.
One final thought: The GPL was created in opposition to existing copyright law; its purpose is to take advantage of copyright schemes endorsed by others and so unwisely formulated into law to create a sort of "walled garden" where copyright, to a greater or lesser extent, does not apply. It is thus perfectly consistent to be both anti-copyright and pro-GPL, to the extend that copyright does exist in the law.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat