Root Pressure on HTC

[Rxpert83]

There is a movement going on at XDA right now to try to rally the troops to get source code released faster. I fully support this and am passing it along here.

[OFFICIAL?]Team up against HTC for timely source code releases thread! - xda-developers

Write them, email them, call them, and tell them that they need to get source out as fast as possible. Arguably their biggest competitor, samsung, gets source as as soon as thier device hits the market. Sometimes sooner. This is what we want.

I wrote them a very lengthy email today, and am awaiting reply.


You don't have to make it all legal mumbo jumbo like the XDA OP, but let yourself be heard.

 

[EngineofRuin]

With the sealed battery and multi tasking issues, that is the least they can do.

 

[Rxpert83]

Agreed. This needs to be bigger than just us 4G LTE users though. I want to see company wide, sweeping changes so that they release source when a device drops. Thats the way it should be, and there's no reason it can't be provided.


Lets fix HTC first, and then we can get them to fix our device


Anyone have any ideas on how to spread the word? This applies to all HTC devices, but our HTC specific forum is pretty dead.

Edit: I emailed android police, but I feel like thats shooting too high It'll probably be ignored

 

[Rxpert83]

Interesting read:

I will be sending emails to the aforementioned news sources as well as my tech friends. It really is a shame companies like HTC can get away with violating the GPL like this. If only we could convince a person with copyright on part of the Linux kernel to join our ranks we could win overnight

Oh in addition to the above email I send them I also found another one that was between a head dev of red hat Linux, I'll see if I can dig it up.

EDIT: Found it, post by Matthew Garrett, developer of red hat linux posted the next couple of entries. They are very interesting reads about the entire situation:

HTC is Willfully Violating the GPL by Matthew Garrett:


These two entries are also by Matthew Garrett but they're more a generalized point of view about GPL violations in general and why it's an incentive to do so:
The economic incentive to violate the GPL
The ongoing fight against GPL enforcement

Also let me make this clear (because I've seen people bring this up before): people here aren't complaining that without source we can't do anything or that our devs REQUIRE it. The point is that the Linux kernel is licensed under the GPL and that our devs SHOULDN'T NEED to work without it. It's free open sourced code. We don't care for the "but HTC has hundreds of phones to support please give them time!@!" argument either. The GPL is pretty clear, you can use anything licensed under it but if you release a commercial product with it, source MUST be released and source code is easier to distribute than the binary they built using it. It's a non-issue for them.

Sorry for the massive edit. I just love open source software and the advantages it provides for technology and by proxy -- society. I mean, open source is literally everywhere and I can't stand companies with big bucks being able to "buy" their way out of what open source stands for. If you use something licensed under the GPL you MUST provide source. You don't have a day, you don't have a week. You have to either release it alongside the binary or provide it upon request.

I'm done

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[argedion]

I also informed Android Central of this. So hopefully they will jump on board as well.

 

[Rxpert83]

I sent a personal email to all of the top execs listed in the XDA thread today

 

[EngineofRuin]

Good luck RX, one thing I'd love to know from HTC themselves is the reason for not making the sealed battery larger. 25-2900 mah is feasible. Software can be improved and is with the development community, I imagine once the source code gets out that will kick into high gear. Give us a beautiful screen, have to limit it's brightness due to battery.

Need to join XDA myself.

 

[Rxpert83]

Need to join XDA myself.

Lots of drama over there. I just go to keep informed so I make sure we're kept current over here

 

[Rxpert83]

Made it to the front page of XDA and Phandroid!

Petition started requesting HTC for more timely release of kernel source code

HTC Source Movement Petition for Timely Kernel Source Releases – xda-developers

 

[argedion]

Need to join XDA myself.

Unless you really have a need I wouldn't bother. I've been over there a few times and really its not a friendly crowd there. Lot's of arragance and "I did it so should you" type of attitude. If not for the amazing developement that came from there it would be a site to totally avoid.

Ok enough bad mouthing.

What are your interest in joining over there? Maybe, Probably we can do it here.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

That's one thing I love about the community on this forum, it's well enough moderated that it never seems to get out of hand like some of the other forums.

 

[Rxpert83]

We have our issues here as well. We just deal with it swiftly and everyone moves on Its a cultural thing at XDA

 

[argedion]

do that it is so easy to get off track getting back on it. Has HTC made any wispers about how they feel about the situation or are they being hush hush. I'm almost certain they have heard of this by now. I'm very interested in hearing what they have to say in responce to this.

 

[Rxpert83]

As far as them giving any sort of real response, no I dont expect that.

They will always either ignore the post or give your generalize PR responses. But that is expected considering they pay people to sit on facebook and dodge questions.

Emailing them is the same way.

The only way for this to reach someone who can actually make a difference is volume. Thats why we need people

 

[argedion]

I sent a personal email to all of the top execs listed in the XDA thread today

Mind Posting those here?

 

[Rxpert83]

Mind Posting those here?

No problem. From the OP:

Personal Contacts [thanks sgt.slaughter]

Mark_Baker@htc.com; Senior Director Enterprise Business Unit Americas
Cher_Wang@htc.com; Chairman
John_Wang@htc.com; Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation
Keith_Nowak@htc.com; Senior Public Relations Manager at HTC 425-679-5328
Fred_Liu@htc.com; COO of HTC
HT_Cho@htc.com; Board Member of HTC
Peter_Chou@htc.com; CEO
Lotus_Chan@htc.com; VP HTC
Horace_Luke@htc.com; Chief Innovation Officer

Brent Groome, Chief Executive-Customer Operations, at 843-369-8393 or brent.groome@htcinc.net

To email all of them at once, copy and paste this:

Mark_Baker@htc.com;Cher_Wang@htc.com;John_Wang@htc.com;Keith_Nowak@htc.com;Fred_Liu@htc.com;HT_Cho@htc.com;Peter_Chou@htc.com;Lotus_Chan@htc.com;Horace_Luke@htc.com

I had a few of them bounce back as undelivered the next day, so I'm not sure how many actually went through.

 

[EngineofRuin]

Unless you really have a need I wouldn't bother. I've been over there a few times and really its not a friendly crowd there. Lot's of arragance and "I did it so should you" type of attitude. If not for the amazing developement that came from there it would be a site to totally avoid.

Ok enough bad mouthing.

What are your interest in joining over there? Maybe, Probably we can do it here.

My only real interest is to thank the developers, since they seem to stick to posting there.

 

[EarlyMon]

do that it is so easy to get off track getting back on it. Has HTC made any wispers about how they feel about the situation or are they being hush hush. I'm almost certain they have heard of this by now. I'm very interested in hearing what they have to say in responce to this.

Let's go by the bootloader unlocking.

When the petition for that gained momentum, they issued a bogus PR statement and the blogosphere went on a feeding frenzy. That added a black eye for their image and more signatures.

Then, they announced that they would give us exactly what we asked for and they did.

Because we only asked for unlocked, thinking that would equal s-off.

Same caution applies here. Even when they release source, it doesn't always just build. Gotta ask for it all. Anyway, this is a good start.

Let's please agree to discuss about joining XDA via PM. They show us respect as an organization, let's give the same courtesy.

It's not like the community would be well served as an either / or deal. Both their forum and ours serve critical needs.

Their house, their rules, our house, our rules, let's show mutual respect.

I'm a member of both, but make my home here. Some of their mods, same deal, only vice versa.

Cheers, thanks.