Netflix Is An Example Of A Great Open-Source Corporate Patron To FreeBSD

[r_a_trip]

How "free and open" really is RHEL and a proprietary app on top?

The same can be said for any of the BSDs. If there is no adequate FOSS application, then this also extends to BSD. Anything FOSS that runs on BSD, can pretty much also run on Linux. So how free is BSD with a proprietary app running on top?

[r_a_trip]

With BSD I can morph anything in any way I like and share it as I like - that is real freedom.

Yes, 100% freedom for you. It also gives you the freedom to sublicense that code to me with absolutely horrible terms at any time as you see fit. Or worse, I only get a binary. That puts you in the position to lord over me.

That is why I prefer to use GPL programs. That puts me, as a user, on comparatively even footing to the developers. If they treat me badly, I can take my copy of the ball and go to someone who is decent and treats me as a human being.

With the GPL, I can turn anywhere. With BSD it depends on what terms the upstream is willing to give me.

I imagine the riposte will be something like "If I am the author of the code, shouldn't I be entitled to release it under any terms I see fit?" Yes, you fully are. As a user I am fully entitled to look at your offer and categorically decide not to touch it with a ten foot barge pole.

[mick3]

I'm not an authority on this, but I don't think Sony contributes much back at all. Their internal additions to FreeBSD are likely seen as stuff they want to keep internal (e.g. the custom graphics stack and driver support for their semi-custom AMD SoC). I think they have contributed to LLVM/clang, as that is not touching secret sauce directly.

That's the reason FreeBSD uses the Linux graphics modules radeonkms/amdgpu for AMD graphics as Sony's work is not available to them. :/

Couldn't Sony at least have something contributed to Mesa to optimize the performance of older Radeon SI cards which is the PS4 GPU's architecture? Sure, until now improving PC based graphics was probably not in their best interest.

IMHO for the PS5 they should hedge the investment of their custom graphics stack and join Linux, especially as Google's Stadia is going to make Linux graphics a commercially viable alternative. Who wants some special PS5 dev kit when the gaming companies could easily develop and deploy on Linux?

AFAIK Microsoft never made big technical differences between Windows graphics on the Xbox and Windows graphics on gaming PCs so I wonder what is the "secret sauce" of Sony's custom graphics software?

[pruzinat]

• Happy to live in a world where developer can freely chose any terrible license (proprietary or GPLv3). You may disagree with their choice of license, but you have no ownership of their labor and they are free to do what they please.
• Not respecting the rules comes in two flavors, GPL violations by companies, piracy by teenagers, socialist and other people who claim to have rights to your labor.
• What I'm getting at is that we shouldn't be moralizing about actions of those who actually follow the rules set up by authors, how about we moralize about breaking them (unlawful in most countries).
• If you don't like that companies are using your software then go GPLv3 or proprietary yourself. It is that easy.