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HTC Willfully Violates the GPL in T-Mobile's New G2 Android Phone

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Re: HTC Willfully Violates the GPL in T-Mobile's New G2 Android Phone

#4
post #3

"within 90 to 120 days" Maybe this tactic has something to do with product life cycle though I can't think what. Surely a phone has a longer shelf life than 3 months . .

Lately, the window of time for which a new Android phone remains the new hotness is one or two weeks. Sometimes no time at all, as a better phone will be released before another has even made it to market.

Re: HTC Willfully Violates the GPL in T-Mobile's New G2 Android Phone

#5
Call them, and demand that your complaint be escalated. Call back daily until this is fixed. Unlike emails which can be disregarded phone calls cost money to process. This means that the FOSS community can impose a financial cost on non-compliance without going through the courts.

I just got off the phone to HTC Australia, and apparently they'll be getting in touch. If everyone did that ...

Re: HTC Willfully Violates the GPL in T-Mobile's New G2 Android Phone

#6
Which is surprising how? Android's aim has always been to be open for manufacturers and providers. The user-wise openness is an implementation detail and may or may not be there.

And the more time passes, the better manufacturers and carriers get acquainted with the platform, the least common Android devices will be open as far as the user is concerned.

Re: HTC Willfully Violates the GPL in T-Mobile's New G2 Android Phone

#7
What I don't understand is why phone manufactures are even worried about rooting. If it's about service and warranty, they can simply make it clear that replacing the OS voids the warranty and they won't provide service for the phone.

Besides warranty and service costs, what else are they so worried about that they feel it necessary to add these protection measures?

Surely the percent of customers that root/mod a phone is so small that it's not worth the man-power and engineering to try to "fix" the problem. It seems there must be some other concern they are trying to resolve that escapes me.

Re: HTC Willfully Violates the GPL in T-Mobile's New G2 Android Phone

#8
post #7

What I don't understand is why phone manufactures are even worried about rooting. If it's about service and warranty, they can simply make it clear that replacing the OS voids the warranty and they won't provide service for the phone. Besides warranty and service costs, what else are they so worried about that they feel it necessary to add these protection measures? Surely the percent of customers that root/mod a pho…

I guess it's because virus writers also to try to root the devices to install rootkits. I'm quite in favor of requiring hardware mods (although I'd prefer a jumper...) to modify the OS.

Re: HTC Willfully Violates the GPL in T-Mobile's New G2 Android Phone

#9
post #3

"within 90 to 120 days" Maybe this tactic has something to do with product life cycle though I can't think what. Surely a phone has a longer shelf life than 3 months . .

Well it may not necessarily be malicious. Maybe the developers responsible for say preparing the source tarball properly have just been given a lot of other pressing work.
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