[Scott Dorsey]

In article , Mike Rivers wrote:
People have been pestering Mackie to release the code for the hard disk
recorders so someone can update them. While Mackie doesn't plan to use
that code or anything else in it again, the operating system kernel
(which isn't anything common like Windows or Linux) came from elsewhere
and they don't own any rights to that other than to distribute it with
the product. Everything's compiled into a single file. One of the
problems with it is that the driver for graphics card is in the
compilation, so only a limited range of cards will work with it, and
they're getting scarcer than hen's teeth and aren't clearly identifiable
anyway. Replacing parts (including the motherboard) isn't as simple as
it is in a plain old Windows PC.

The whole _point_ of releasing the code is that it gets the manufacturers
hands out of the whole thing.

Yeah, it requires a license for the RTOS and a build environment to build
the firmware. It's not an easy thing to do.

But by releasing the source code, the manufacturer turns it from their
problem to the end user's problem. It becomes possible for a third party
organization to build the system. If they choose not to do it because
it's difficult, it's not Mackie's problem. If they choose not to do it
because they can't get source from Mackie, that IS Mackie's problem.

The fact that building the code is difficult is a reason _to_ release it,
not a reason to avoid releasing it.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."