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Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

21–30 of 73 posts

Re: Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

#22
post #5

This sounded awesome right up to the point that they said that this was a hotly pursued space due to advertising potential to a captive audience. If I am in my own car and my music is interrupted with an ad every time I drive by a McDonalds - I would find that extremely annoying. On the other hand, if you could lease a car at a subsidized price in exchange for ads, that might be an attractive offer to some.

[deleted]

Re: Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

#25
post #5

This sounded awesome right up to the point that they said that this was a hotly pursued space due to advertising potential to a captive audience. If I am in my own car and my music is interrupted with an ad every time I drive by a McDonalds - I would find that extremely annoying. On the other hand, if you could lease a car at a subsidized price in exchange for ads, that might be an attractive offer to some.

The NY Times added the part about the captive audience and advertising potential.

Ford's developer page and its press release concern themselves with apps of the type they already bundle with Sync (i.e., ad-free). Indeed, Ford's developer page warns that content which distracts the driver (including but not limited to visual distractions) will not be accepted into the Sync app store.

Re: Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

#26

Since we are on the topic: I wish Tesla would finally live up to their obligations and release the GPLed parts of their product (that includes, at a minimum, the Linux kernel with all modifications).

GPL compliance (sigh) and a new SDK for a vehicle aren't really the same topic. They just happen to have cars in common. If I left a comment about the camshaft on my Jeep, that wouldn't be on topic, even though it's about cars. That aside, what do you hope to gain from their GPL compliance? Pop open the GPL compliance kit from, say, a Netgear router and you get a kernel, a few drivers, and the toolchain used to build…

> If it's curiosity, well, I wish we weren't enforcing that with the GPL.

It's simple, either you comply with the GPL or you don't distribute GPL-based code. As an author of GPL licensed software, I think it's pretty damned arrogant for someone like you to imply curiosity isn't a good enough reason to get back modifications in accordance with the chosen license. Who are you to judge? And anyway, what reason could possibly be more worthy than curiosity?

It's the authors' choice, not the peanut gallery's; and if they hadn't intended for all distributed modifications to be made available under the GPL, they would have chosen BSD or another license instead. And if you don't like that, too bad.

Re: Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

#27

Since we are on the topic: I wish Tesla would finally live up to their obligations and release the GPLed parts of their product (that includes, at a minimum, the Linux kernel with all modifications).

Are we sure they aren't complying with the GPL? After all, it only requires distribution of source to those who receive the compiled code. Which is to say, unless you have a Tesla in your garage, you have no claim to the source.

Re: Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

#28

Since we are on the topic: I wish Tesla would finally live up to their obligations and release the GPLed parts of their product (that includes, at a minimum, the Linux kernel with all modifications).

GPL compliance (sigh) and a new SDK for a vehicle aren't really the same topic. They just happen to have cars in common. If I left a comment about the camshaft on my Jeep, that wouldn't be on topic, even though it's about cars. That aside, what do you hope to gain from their GPL compliance? Pop open the GPL compliance kit from, say, a Netgear router and you get a kernel, a few drivers, and the toolchain used to build…

Why do you care? The GPL doesn't alleviate the obligations of its users based on what jspthrowaway2 finds to be a valuable pursuit. (Presuming the GP is a customer eligible to receive the modifications under the GPL terms)

Re: Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

#29

Since we are on the topic: I wish Tesla would finally live up to their obligations and release the GPLed parts of their product (that includes, at a minimum, the Linux kernel with all modifications).

GPL compliance (sigh) and a new SDK for a vehicle aren't really the same topic. They just happen to have cars in common. If I left a comment about the camshaft on my Jeep, that wouldn't be on topic, even though it's about cars. That aside, what do you hope to gain from their GPL compliance? Pop open the GPL compliance kit from, say, a Netgear router and you get a kernel, a few drivers, and the toolchain used to build…

Motivation is irrelevant. If you accept a license you comply with its terms period.

Re: Ford Releases An SDK For Their Cars

#30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPL compliance (sigh) and a new SDK for a vehicle aren't really the same topic. They just happen to have cars in common. If I left a comment about the camshaft on my Jeep, that wouldn't be on topic, even though it's about cars. That aside, what do you hope to gain from their GPL compliance? Pop open the GPL compliance kit from, say, a Netgear router and you get a kernel, a few drivers, and the toolchain used to build…

> If it's curiosity, well, I wish we weren't enforcing that with the GPL. It's simple, either you comply with the GPL or you don't distribute GPL-based code. As an author of GPL licensed software, I think it's pretty damned arrogant for someone like you to imply curiosity isn't a good enough reason to get back modifications in accordance with the chosen license. Who are you to judge? And anyway, what reason could pos…

Because "for curiosity" isn't a term stated in any GPL license. You can be offended as much as you want for them not releasing it but unless you own a Tesla they don't have to share their modifications with you. If you are unhappy with that, I suggest sharing your work under a different license.
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