O Source Code, Source Code, wherefore art thou Source Code?

[scott.wiederhold]

@jbpa

Where did he make this statement?

Here for one:

Subscription fee?

Thanks Mark, spot on. The motherboard has a full Linux environment so you’ll have a lot of options with existing open source projects. There’s currently no offline functionality out of the box, though. (And unfortunately we have to void the warranty if you flash the firmware - it’s just too easy to wreck the thing when you’re experimenting). Regarding subscription, you’ll need an account but not a paid subscription of any sort.

@jbpa

Because you choose to do this, does not mean that it is required.

Agreed. I was merely stating that since the GPL’d binaries can be redistributed freely, it becomes ridiculous for a company to try and verify that someone has actual possession of the binary before they will send them the source.

@jbpa

But they are only obligated to provide such code to the people to which they sell or provide a Glowforge.

@jbpa

Correct, but they are still only obligated to offer the code to people that they have sent product.

Partially correct.

1. If they include the source with the product, then their obligation ends there.
2. If they only offer it via some other medium (physical mailing, web repository), they must make that offer valid for 3rd parties as well.

Option 1 is not likely feasible. They are continuously updating the firmware after it has been deployed. The only way they could fulfill option 1 is if they included the source code in the firmware itself. Few, if any, embedded devices have the storage capacity for this.