Android and the GPLv2 death penalty

Re:Android and the GPLv2 death penalty by sixtofour on Monday August 22, 2011 @01:49PM (#2913334)

It's conceivable that Motorola Mobile might have had GPL-licensed linux code. That story might be playing out differently had Microsoft bought them instead of Google.

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Re:Android and the GPLv2 death penalty by jrockway on Monday August 22, 2011 @02:17PM (#2913431)

In the end, the code gets removed and rewritten. Most of Linux is drivers for hardware that you don't have anyway, so the chances of this affecting the average person are minimal.

Honestly, nothing but good could come from being forced to remove key parts of Linux. A lot of it needs a good rethinking, but breaking compat would not be tolerated. If it's legally required, then people don't have a choice.

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Re:Android and the GPLv2 death penalty by sixtofour on Monday August 22, 2011 @02:26PM (#2913471)

"In the end, the code gets removed and rewritten."

Undoubtedly true, but what about deployed/sold devices? I wasn't real impressed at the pace of the update getting to my Epic, which I believe was caused in part by different motivations between Samsung and Sprint. What about devices that are no longer supported by updates? They're "out there."

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Re:Android and the GPLv2 death penalty by jrockway on Monday August 22, 2011 @03:17PM (#2913697)

I guess they get an emergency patch or Samsung pays damages. Just like they already do for the eight billion patents various trolls claim their phones infringe on.

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