awg's blog Rarely Used.

Slashdot Silliness: Eee Violates the GPL?

Slashdot has a story today about the new Asus Eee PC and how it may violoate the GPL.

Now, I'm something of an open-source zealot. I've been using Linux as my primary/only OS since 1998ish, I've organized Linux installfests, and I generally try to be supportive of open source things. But this Eee complaint is just silly.

It's entirely possible that Asus has violated the GPL. But, who cares? To me, the important thing is that they've released a really cool device that openly uses Linux. It's a Linux device that normal, non-geeky people will buy and use. And they'll know they're using Linux (unlike a Linksys router, which may use Linux, but most people who buy one will never know it). The GPL zealots are being stupid and counterproductive: instead of seeing the upside - a Linux device that's cool and easy to use, and might make people want to try Linux on their other computers - they bitch and complain about the fact that a tiny bit of the code may break the GPL. Way to advance the cause, guys.