Noonmid27 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Hi guysI know this is not what linux was made for but is it possible to make a distribution closed source? and what was left open so we can see everything? I mean what does windows have that linux does not have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I know this is not what linux was made for but is it possible to make a distribution closed source?yes(apple macintosh comes to mind), xandros.and what was left open so we can see everything?nothing. Again apple macintosh comes to mind. It's either open or closed, if it is closed you'll see nothing, simply because the sources aren't made publicly available. It's called proprietary then. Nvidia drivers are another example of this, they're closed, proprietary.I mean what does windows have that linux does not have?I better don't comment on that ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Apple built many things that are closed/proprietary. But Darwin (based on BSD adn Mach 3) is not. And that is still available: Open SourceIf you like open source development, you'll love Mac OS X. This fully-conformant UNIX operating system—built on Mach 3.0 and FreeBSD 5—bundles over a hundred of the most popular Open Source products. You can shell out with bash, tcsh, ksh, and zsh; edit your code with emacs, vim, and nano; and build your projects using gcc, make, and autoconf.Need something a little higher-level? Run your X11 apps side-by-side with native apps using X11R7 from X.org. Serve your web site with Apache 2.0 and PHP 5. Start scripting with Ruby and Python, and build web applications with the Ruby on Rails framework. You can even measure your application's performance using DTrace from OpenSolaris.All these Open Source products are integrated into every Mac, ready to use. Read More...But Aqua, the GUI that rides on top of the Darwin underpinnings, is totally closed/proprietary. As are many programs that run on the Mac.Xandros...not sure about that. The Linux kernel it runs on, like Darwin on the Mac, is open source. Many of the programs and the GUI that Xandros uses are open source. It's their special things that they apparently have done as closed. And I sure hope they are following the GPL in the way they are doing things. Because some things can come back to bite them if they do not.The things that concern me are when open source things are bought by closed source 'thinking' companies. Take CUPS for instance. It's been open source since it's inception. Apple buys it, now they get the best of both worlds, sorta. They can create a fork that is TOTALLY closed supposedly and not have to share with the open source community their breakthroughs now. So where's the benefit to the open source community on that? There are others that come to mind but I will let others pick it up from there.As to the benefits, or "what does windows have that linux doesn't" ... a closed minded mentality? Apple should know better, with their underpinnings being open, but they have become very arrogant in some areas due to recent advances. Sad. They have forgotten parts of their roots, I think. I hope they will find their way back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 (edited) The GPL states that any GPL code must be shared, including mods, if it is used. However larger applications (eg.OSX built on Darwin, although this may be BSD licence?) often use released GPL code together with closed proprietary code.There have been recent legal actions about using GPL code without making source available eg. TiVo and some wireless routers . Edited December 13, 2008 by sunrat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 Correct the GNU Public License forbids anyone from close sourcing the code. If you didn't write the original code then you cannot modify it without releasing that modification public. In the case of Linux it isn't just one program. Technically Linux is just the kernel. All the trappings that go with a distro are other programs bundled with it. Each one has it's own license, most are GPL, but many have other licenses such as the Mozilla License that Firefox uses. And some distros come with some proprietary close licenses on some of the programs.You can certainly make a Linux distro with a new GUI or some other major component that was closed source but much of the code would be open source. Doesn't mean you can make money off of it. Apple's OSX is mostly open source but it's GUI - aqua isn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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