[LAU] Fairlight

[Gene Heskett]

On Wednesday 24 October 2012 17:16:20 Patrick Shirkey did opine:
Gene wrote:
 
> > While I'm 100% in agreement Patrick, I'll have to confess that my
> > first thought was the question of a GPL violation.  Fairlight or
> > Farlight has if my memory can be trusted, a rep for keeping their
> > code locked well away from prying eyes even when it was running on
> > some M68k hardware that looked
> > a lot like a big box amiga.
> > 
> > I'll get me coat...
> 
> I'm not the best person to make contact with them directly but that
> shouldn't stop anyone else from asking them to release their Open Source
> code if they haven't already done so.
> 
> My advice is to explain the positive aspects as well as the legal
> aspects. Gene is right that their reputation proceeds them (unfairlight
> ?) but they have a new CEO who may not be aware of their legal
> obligations in regards to the GPL and open source. Just don't expect
> them to move quickly as they have a fairly glacial internal culture and
> they are pretty combative if cornered and poked.

Not much has changed in 20 years then I'd have to say.  And, I'd guess that 
to effect any real, draw a line in the sand results, that query should 
probably come from the FSF, whom I think has power of attorney over 99% of 
the kernel code and libraries. But we both know that Aussie companies tend 
to do their own thing and may need to be prodded gently by the AU office of 
the FSF if there is such a thing.

I don't have an oar in this water personally, but it seems someone here 
should know who to contact at the FSF to "get the ball off center if not 
actually rolling" ;-)

Cheers, Gene
-- 
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