On: Dump these small-biz routers, says Cisco, we won't...

[woliveirajr]

After the EOL all companies should make the {thing} open : release all keys, software, backdoors, whatever. No more copywrite, IP, on it.

So that any user could install anything they wanted and use it as they wish. Including replace components with similars and/or make modifications.

[carlmr → woliveirajr]

>After the EOL all companies should make the {thing} open : release all keys, software, backdoors, whatever. No more copywrite, IP, on it.

I think this is reasonable.

It's unreasonable to expect companies to support old products indefinitely, otherwise they would collapse under the weight of the legacy.

It's also unreasonable to leave customers that bought something, however old, with nothing to fix it themselves.

Ideally also the companies would have to release all this at least a year before EOL for people to be able to get acquainted with the codebase.

[White_Wolf → woliveirajr]

This should be mandatory for any product/software that becomes EOL with no exception.

[denton-scratch → White_Wolf]

Strikes me it's probably impossible. Cisco is presumably bound by all kinds of tech cross-licensing deals, and can't just open up schematics, source etc.

[bbarnett → denton-scratch]

If it was law, everyone, not just Cisco, would negotiate cross-licensing deals as such. As a result, there would be no way for people to license IP unless they allowed for open use after the fact.

Beyond that, as an example, open apis (for drivers re:hardwwre) are not the same as giving full chip scematics.

But! If the, for example, SoC stopped updating binary blobs, and things stopped working with newer kernels, as an example, then they'd have to 100% open up and provide sources.

People get all rah-rah about the environment, but I throw away pounds and pounds of highly polluting electronics, just so someone can sell me another.

This model need to stop.

[ticviking → denton-scratch]

If we required it as a matter of law I hope that my property interest in the actual hardware combined with a statute outweighs those licensing deals.

[bluedino → woliveirajr]

Would repercussions would that have on the existing userbase?