ASUS Eee PC / GPL Update
Earlier this week we reported that a disgruntled Eee purchaser was considering taking ASUS to court over alleged GPL violations. Those supposed violations stemmed from the alleged failure to provide complete source code for the software on the Eee PC in an accessible manner & location. As we initially suspected, it appears to have been an oversight.
"Asustek stated that it has always respected the spirit of the GPL and the failure to make the source code available was due to an omission by one of the company's software technicians. The company is working on publish all the related source code onto Linux forums and will provide downloads, it added."
This isn't the first time that ASUS has been accused of violating the GPL, but they are always swift to respond to such claims. We're willing to give ASUS the benefit of the doubt in this situation as it seems that any wrongdoing is unintentional and without ill intent. It is entirely possible that the oversight was simply caused by a product team that was doing everything they could to ensure that the Eee PC was ready for the all-important holiday season. An updated version of the source code is now available, but our understanding is that as of the time of this writing, it is still missing a few files. A full version will be available soon.
"Asustek stated that it has always respected the spirit of the GPL and the failure to make the source code available was due to an omission by one of the company's software technicians. The company is working on publish all the related source code onto Linux forums and will provide downloads, it added."
This isn't the first time that ASUS has been accused of violating the GPL, but they are always swift to respond to such claims. We're willing to give ASUS the benefit of the doubt in this situation as it seems that any wrongdoing is unintentional and without ill intent. It is entirely possible that the oversight was simply caused by a product team that was doing everything they could to ensure that the Eee PC was ready for the all-important holiday season. An updated version of the source code is now available, but our understanding is that as of the time of this writing, it is still missing a few files. A full version will be available soon.
