tomtom on the Neo1973

[Al Johnson]

On Monday 02 April 2007 12:36, wim delvaux wrote:
> On Monday 02 April 2007 11:42:51 Attila Csipa wrote:
> > On Monday 02 April 2007 08:13, Hans L wrote:
> > > I guess it is a question of whether the map providers are willing to
> > > cooperate and divulge the details of their file format to an open
> > > source project, or alternatively converting their data into some open
> > > format for use with such a project.
> >
> > In my experience this is highly unlikely. Their first thought would be
> > content protection - and on OpenMoko you (should) have none. When they
> > license data to software companies, it's easier, since they have NDA-s,
> > contractual obligations, etc, but they would see no incentive to open up
> > their formats. The income from end users buying open format data is
> > minuscule compared to the possible damages from pirated data and/or lost
> > bulk contracts from their point of view. And to reiterate a personal
> > opinion about commercial software on OM - please do not change or put a
> > minute of effort in OpenMoko to make commercial software run easier than
> > any other software (unless you get a substantial donation :) - if a
> > company is to make some money on OpenMoko users, let it at least pay it's
> > own costs in full.
>
> and what about smart2go ?
>
> www.smart2go.com

Seems to confirm parent's interpretation. The code is closed, and 'free' only 
in so far as Nokia are allowing a no-cost download of the beta version. 
Navigation is a paid-for upgrade. The license agreement prevents 
redistribution of the data files, and prevents reverse-engineering of the 
data files as far as local law allows. Nokia, like Google, have paid for a 
license and are absorbing the cost, presumably to make money off a related 
sevice, but neither are allowed to let you use the data for anything else.

>
> W
>
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