Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just that I'm new to the Open Source community, but I don't understand this kind of reaction. It seems to me that the Linux community should welcome the efforts of a major hardware manufacturer like Creative, instead of saying "Screw you, it's not free enough".
Creative seems to be testing the waters here, rather than jumping into the deep end; just because we know Linux will achieve World Domination[tm] doesn't mean the suits buy it (yet), so they're perhaps not so eager to pour huge amounts of money into a software product that, in their eyes, isn't a huge potential moneymaker, and will be given away, source code and all, to boot!
Believe it or not, not everyone is convinced yet that Open Source is a Good Thing, and you're certainly not going to change anyone's mind by telling them to go to hell...
(Please note: the following is not a defense of piracy, but rather a defense of the English language.)
Data piracy is not theft. Theft implies that I, in my role as pirate, am taking a tangible thing from you, in your role as intellectual property owner. But the problem is, data doesn't work that way. If I make a copy of your music, you have not lost anything. It's not like I stole your master tapes at gunpoint or something. You're just as well off if I download the MP3s of the album as you are if I just don't buy it; you don't suffer any loss of revenue, since I'm too darn cheap to buy your album anyway.:)
Sorry, I'm just tired of hearing RIAA, SPA, etc. flog this particular dead horse. Intellectual property violation is a category all its own.
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An Alien[TM], Marvin the Martian, and Death (a la Terry Pratchett). I'd have my Battle Droid here too but it seems to be MIA after my recent move... :P
Creative seems to be testing the waters here, rather than jumping into the deep end; just because we know Linux will achieve World Domination[tm] doesn't mean the suits buy it (yet), so they're perhaps not so eager to pour huge amounts of money into a software product that, in their eyes, isn't a huge potential moneymaker, and will be given away, source code and all, to boot!
Believe it or not, not everyone is convinced yet that Open Source is a Good Thing, and you're certainly not going to change anyone's mind by telling them to go to hell...
Data piracy is not theft. Theft implies that I, in my role as pirate, am taking a tangible thing from you, in your role as intellectual property owner. But the problem is, data doesn't work that way. If I make a copy of your music, you have not lost anything. It's not like I stole your master tapes at gunpoint or something. You're just as well off if I download the MP3s of the album as you are if I just don't buy it; you don't suffer any loss of revenue, since I'm too darn cheap to buy your album anyway. :)
Sorry, I'm just tired of hearing RIAA, SPA, etc. flog this particular dead horse. Intellectual property violation is a category all its own.
Once (a long long time ago) I was updating the firmware on my Amiga's SCSI controller... and, like a genius, I plugged the EPROMs in backward...
:)
Gee, I never knew they lit up!