On Tue, 21 Oct 2003, Jeffrey L. Funk wrote:
> ...the ability to freely develop and run programs, if allowed, could
> be a major driver of this process. It appears that Japanese (and also
> foreign) operators will continue to control this process (partly due
> to concerns about viruses) just as they have done with content. Does
> anybody see changes in this area?
There are certain areas you can't open up at all, due to regulatory
issues. For example, the radio power control is done through software,
but it's illegal to make a device where the user could change the power
output past certain standards (not to mention it could also cause parts
of your network to stop working).
Beyond that, there are DRM issues. But these might not be such a big
deal for a vendor like Docomo, where anyone who bills through them does
not sell a single-sale "product" but a subscription to a service. Though
I can't give away a copy of my Tiny-garden i-Appli, even if I could,
there wouldn't be a problem since it's useless if I can't get data from
the server, and I need to be subscribed to do that.
At any rate, it looks as if Docomo is slowly, step by step, opening up
the system. (Look at all the good stuff they added in i-Appli DX.) So
I'd say in the long haul it's reasonably likely to get "open enough" for
a lot of purposes.
cjs
--
Curt Sampson <cjs_at_cynic.net> +81 90 7737 2974 http://www.NetBSD.org
Don't you know, in this new Dark Age, we're all light. --XTC
Received on Tue Oct 21 10:58:31 2003