Unless I missed it, the article doesn't say what type of agreement it is they would have to sign, or what terms there are.
I'm guessing some sort of NDA-ish, so you don't go publishing the spec all over the place. Which, in the case of a file format, is exactly what I would consider "open source". A freely avaliable spec.
Well, I suppose it still might be free(as in no money) even with signing the agreement, just not easily avaliable.
The problem is it's difficult to come up with an alternative that isn't man-power intensive and that doesn't require the driver to jump through hoops. At least, it has to be equal or less of a hassle than GPS.
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Well, if someone gets Linux running on it, then you might be able to pull off Mac on Linux.
Unless I missed it, the article doesn't say what type of agreement it is they would have to sign, or what terms there are.
I'm guessing some sort of NDA-ish, so you don't go publishing the spec all over the place. Which, in the case of a file format, is exactly what I would consider "open source". A freely avaliable spec.
Well, I suppose it still might be free(as in no money) even with signing the agreement, just not easily avaliable.
There is an issue you've not addressed. How about when your data is not the target? (Honestly, most people's data is not worth stealing).
What if an attacker just wishes to compromise your machine and use it to attack other machines, relay spam, etc? This is a huge problem with Windows.
The Blizzard online store has copies avaliable again.
There are restrictions from buying from the store depending on where you live, however.
Also, they did note that they are slowly releasing copies again in this forum post.
I'm definately not a fan of GPS either.
The problem is it's difficult to come up with an alternative that isn't man-power intensive and that doesn't require the driver to jump through hoops. At least, it has to be equal or less of a hassle than GPS.
So, what if you take a 2 month road trip across the United States? Is it fair to get charged for the miles you didn't drive on California roads?
Your idea doesn't include an easy way to subtract miles that "don't count", where the GPS would.
Ian Bell was the co-author of the original Elite along with David Braben. Ian's Elite page can be found here :
http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/