I agree with lewhoo - OS/2 community definitely would benefit from this kernel.
And that is why it is better to support OS/4 Team rather than criticize.
Rwklein, once (#62) I have already asked about your suggestions - how you see it should be - unfortunately, there was no answer.
It looks like you really have something in your mind but you don't want to share it.
Please, advise what is illegal in OS/4 kernel:
- presence of OS/4 copyright
- distribution of patched kernel
- etc.
It's a pity, but from your posts it is absolutely unclear what you consider illegal. I think OS/4 team will appreciate all your suggestions.
From my point of view, for example, it should not be a big deal for them to remove the copyright string or distribute a not patched kernel but a software to patch the original one.
At the same time I would not want to believe walking_x, who said that Mensys might have some hidden motifs.
I would really like to support this kernel. But when it comes to copyright law in Western Europe and the United States. The kernel is indeed a violation of the law because the remove/ added the copyright statement of IBM. But they pay no royalties to IBM even. Mensys and Serenity Systems do so.
Second distributing the kernel in such a fashion with patches in it is also a violation of the law.
A patch as win32k.sys does from a legal point of view is clean.
If the community would this kernel to be of us it needs to be legal. Otherwhise it useful for private usage.
Guess why Mensys did not include MP3 support and other video codecs. Everything that is included in eComStation is licensed from vendors or in depth research has been done to make certain no intellectually rights property where violated.
Including the OS/4 kernel in the eComStation distribution would do so.
When it comes to working with the community Mensys and Serenity Systems try to there best to do so. And eComStation has always been a community/company effort. With Mensys/Serenity systems investing money. For example we hired a developer for 20.000 Dollars who is ex IBM to debug UNIAUD. Paul Smedley can confirm that the developer Richard Jerant removed bugs that would have been difficult to find by other people. Mensys will pay a developer to get AHCI support to eComStation.
We pay for ACPI support, we pay for Flash development and the Open Office port. We run the VOICE mailing lists, provide Paul Smedley with FTP space for his software, CVS netlabs runs on our server. We work with Netlabs
Mensys people like me and Joachim have always been closely involved with the community like me doing
www.warpweekend.com and involved with Warpstock and many other items we sponsor and infrastructure we provide.
I'm just listing some of these things because I know very well the importance of the community. We need the community and some the work the community needs us. (If you want more details I can explain why the community needs us.)
So it goes both ways in call kinds of ways.
The comment I have on the kernel in my view is 100% justified since its illegal (I just pointed out why) and we could support the developers but we do not and can not endorse illegal software.
Roderick Klein
Mensys