Re: Flame Linus to a crisp!

Daniel Phillips
2003-04-24T18:45:01Z

On Thu 24 Apr 03 09:44, Jamie Lokier wrote:
> It only gets _really_ bad when it becomes illegal to make your own
> hardware :(

Actually, that's where we were a few years ago with hardware, because nearly
anything anybody would want to print on a wafer was covered by patents or
copyrights. It's getting better by leaps and bounds. Now, a lot of patents
have expired, a lot of non-proprietary cores are available, and it's mainly
the EDM tools that are non-free. That's where we coders can help.

Until the EDM tools get free, their current owners will continue to dictate
what you can and can't design.

Regards,

Daniel