(Fwd) Re: [Braillenote] PulseData In Violation Of The GNU Lesser General Public License, Other Comments About Opening Source/Sp

Tue May 4 13:56:49 MST 2004

I am still willing to help as much as possible.
But as I stated in a earlier note I do not have the BN now since my
office upgraded me to a PM.
And part of that deal was the trade-in of the BN on the PM.

Yes, by all means, let's work with Jonathan and PDI to see what can be
done.
This can have nothing but a good effect on both major players in the
game.

Feel free to indicate that you are working with me on the project since
he and have had earlier discussions about this subject. 

J. R.

P.S. Good job to all.
______________________________
J. R. Westmoreland
PacifiCorp
I/T
Telecomm Data Communications 
Phone: (801) 220-4784

-----Original Message-----
From: Gregory Nowak [mailto:greg at romuald.net.eu.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 2:38 PM
To: notelinux at romuald.net.eu.org
Cc: Westmoreland, J. R.
Subject: Re: (Fwd) Re: [Braillenote] PulseData In Violation Of The GNU
Lesser General Public License, Other Comments About Opening Source/Sp

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My comments are as follows.

1. Being busy is certainly no excuse for not making the gpl license
available with the keysoft documentation, same goes for the source. What
would you bet that PDI wouldn't have bothered making the gpl or source
modifications available if someone hadn't raised the issue publicly?

2. As for making the platform open, that's a great idea as we already
know. If he's truly serious, my opinion is that we need the following
for our project, as well as for other projects:

a. Specs on the braille keyboard.

b. Specs on the braille display.

c. Tell them to consider freely publishing specs for the keynote synth,
so that projects such as speakup could support the braillenote.

d. We need to be able to barrow units if we're to really proceed. We
currently have 2 developers without units. Also, if they would spare a
third unit, that would mean that I could develop on a unit with the new
motherboard, and that I could avoid any potential legal issues that
might later arise due to my developing on a unit which I don't actually
own.

If we had units for all and specs, then bringing modern linux code up to
speed with the old linux-vr code and then proceeding would prove to be a
much easier task, then doing things a different way.

Also, if we actually got going, I for one, would consider getting a
braillenote of my own much more seriously, and I'm sure I wouldn't be
the only one, if word got out that there is an alternative to keysoft
with infinite possibilities. I think then, that it would also be worth
pointing out to PDI that they would stand to gain more customers by
cooperating with us.

I'm also copying J. R.'s work address with this reply, since I seem to
recall that work mail gets seen more often then home email does, and we
need to act as soon as possible. Also, J. R. is the one who originally
got in touch with Jonathan about our project, so Sabahattin and J. R.,
you may want to decide between the 2 of you who should respond.
Remember, our aim is to get results from PDI, not to give Jonathan
multiple project contacts, and confuse him.

Greg

On Tue, May 04, 2004 at 11:22:13AM +0100, Sabahattin Gucukoglu wrote:
> Here's the last message on the thread, from the boss.  Well, one of 
> them...
> 
> Thanks Greg for being quick to inform, was just about to flood the 
> list with repeats then.  This one won't have been caught by your
filter.
> 
> I'll take any of your comments before writing my careful response to 
> Jonathan, as he requested.  I will, of course, take him fully up on 
> his offer.
> 
> Cheers,
> Sabahattin
> 
> ------- Forwarded message follows -------
> To:             	Braillenote List
<braillenote at list.pulsedata.com>
> Subject:        	Re: [Braillenote] PulseData In Violation Of The
GNU Lesser
> 	General	Public License, Other Comments About Opening
Source/Specs
> From:           	Jonathan Mosen <JonathanM at pulsedata.com>
> Date sent:      	Mon, 3 May 2004 16:33:43 +1200
> Send reply to:  	Braillenote List
<braillenote at list.pulsedata.com>
> 
> Hi Sabahattin. When you sent the message to us originally, it 
> eventually ended up with me, and it most certainly has not been
forgotten.
> 
> I appreciate the very detailed way that you've outlined this issue and

> there is no doubt in my mind that we must take some specific actions 
> in order to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the LGPL. As

> will soon become apparent, the last few months have been extremely 
> busy, but we must put this issue right.
> 
> What we'll be doing shortly is making the source of X-Base as we've 
> modified it available for public download from our web site, with 
> changes clarified in the appropriate manner. There's actually little 
> we had to do to it, other than fix a memory leak issue and employ some

> buffering techniques that we found speed the system up. We're happy, 
> and indeed legally bound in the spirit of open source, to contribute 
> these changes to the community of X-Base developers.
> 
> We will also find an appropriate place for the LGPL documentation and 
> ensure that it is included in the next version of KeySoft. But I would

> expect we can get the source uploaded there quite soon.
> 
> Regarding your more general comments about open source, this is a very

> interesting philosophical discussion. I agree with your general 
> sentiment that the platform must be opened up and we intend to do 
> that. I'm not sure that I agree that making KeySoft itself open source
is the best approach.
> But there are other ways of achieving similar objectives which I think

> fit better with the market we're serving and guarantee some 
> consistency of user experience that helps when offering technical 
> support.
> 
> I appreciate the message and please feel free to drop me a private 
> message if you want to kick around the pros and cons of the open
source approach.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jonathan Mosen
> BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager
> Pulse Data International Ltd
> 
> DDI: +64-3-373-6192
> Fax:  +64-3-384 4933
> Mobile: +64-21 466 736
> Email: JonathanM at pulsedata.com
> Internet: www.pulsedata.com
> ___
> To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to 
> braillenote-unsubscribe at list.pulsedata.com
> To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit 
> http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
> 
> ------- End of forwarded message -------
> --
> Thought for the day:
>     Communist (n): one who has given up all hope
>     of becoming a Capitalist.
> 
> 
> Sabahattin Gucukoglu
> Phone: +44 20 7,502-1615
> Mobile: +44 7986 053399
> http://www.sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/
> E	mail/MSN: <	mail at Sabahattin-Gucukoglu.com>
> 
> 
> 
> !DSPAM:40976efd225991011412451!
> 
> 

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