| Won't happen again This was a nice capabilty for the WRT54G Linksys router. But Linksys won't make this mistake again in newer products and neither will other vendors of commercial routers. So enjoy the WRT54G while you can. Open Source code won't be in any of the newer products using MIMO or 802.11n when it is finalized.
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 John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
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kudos:3 | said by fAcEtIOUs:This was a nice capabilty for the WRT54G Linksys router. But Linksys won't make this mistake again in newer products and neither will other vendors of commercial routers. So enjoy the WRT54G while you can. Open Source code won't be in any of the newer products using MIMO or 802.11n when it is finalized. Yes...it was a mistake...that allowed them to sell tens of thousands more units than they would have sold otherwise.
Obviously they would be fools to do THAT again.
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 Morac
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Linksys has sold tons of WRT54G routers because of this, why would Linksys go back to a proprietary system?
Remember Linksys released all the tools needed to compile their firware. They didn't need to do this to comply with the GPL license.
They could have just only the source code that they changed which would have made impossible or at least much harder to make 3rd party firmware. They could also have charged for the source code which they didn't.
Like the article said, this was a "win-win" situation because both Linksys and the consumers benefitted. Why would Linksys risk the success of their new routers by going proprietary?
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| said by Morac:Linksys has sold tons of WRT54G routers because of this, why would Linksys go back to a proprietary system? Why would Linksys risk the success of their new routers by going proprietary? How about because Linksys was bought by Cisco(who is dead set against open source code). And how about that Linksys hasn't made source code available for any of their other product lines than the WRT54 line that has the open source code in it.
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 grcoreChallenge Accepted
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said by fAcEtIOUs:This was a nice capabilty for the WRT54G Linksys router. But Linksys won't make this mistake again in newer products and neither will other vendors of commercial routers. So enjoy the WRT54G while you can. Open Source code won't be in any of the newer products using MIMO or 802.11n when it is finalized. Well the WRT55GX line already uses opens source. And it could be in the best interest of other vendors to capitalize on this phenomenon.
Perhaps you could explain why this is bad?
And Linksys already has realeased the WRT54GL, which specifically targets the use of Linux. Therefore your statement is pure FUD.
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 DaDogsSemper VigilantisPremium
join:2004-02-28
Deltaville, VA | reply to fAcEtIOUs
said by fAcEtIOUs:said by Morac:Linksys has sold tons of WRT54G routers because of this, why would Linksys go back to a proprietary system? Why would Linksys risk the success of their new routers by going proprietary? How about because Linksys was bought by Cisco(who is dead set against open source code). And how about that Linksys hasn't made source code available for any of their other product lines than the WRT54 line that has the open source code in it. Linksys was OWNED by Cisco when they released the WRT54G.
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Morac
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said by fAcEtIOUs:How about because Linksys was bought by Cisco(who is dead set against open source code). And how about that Linksys hasn't made source code available for any of their other product lines than the WRT54 line that has the open source code in it. A WRT54G with 3rd party firmware is not the same as a Cisco router. They might contain similar functionality, but Cisco routers are designed for corporations that contains hundreds or thousands of users. Cisco routers are also used on many of the major Internet hubs.
No one in their right mind would replace a Cisco router with a Linksys WRT54g in these instances since the WRT54g wasn't designed to handle that much traffic.
The WRT54g is for home use with the occasion small business thrown in. Cisco won't lose much money by allowing open source on their Linksys branded products because their marketed to people who would never buy a Cisco router.
Cisco is just shooting themselves in the foot if they think otherwise.
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 nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | reply to John Galt
said by John Galt:said by fAcEtIOUs:This was a nice capabilty for the WRT54G Linksys router. But Linksys won't make this mistake again in newer products and neither will other vendors of commercial routers. So enjoy the WRT54G while you can. Open Source code won't be in any of the newer products using MIMO or 802.11n when it is finalized. Yes...it was a mistake...that allowed them to sell tens of thousands more units than they would have sold otherwise. Obviously they would be fools to do THAT again. It was great for Linksys, but not for Cisco. Think of it: if you can buy a $50 router that can be upgraded to the same capabilities as a $300 device, which are you going to buy?
-tom
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John GaltForward, MarchPremium
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2 edits | said by nixen:It was great for Linksys, but not for Cisco. Think of it: if you can buy a $50 router that can be upgraded to the same capabilities as a $300 device, which are you going to buy? I'll stick with all the comments that I have made so far...
Cisco bean counters bought Linksys because they were a reasonably close fit...and they were profitable. Then they decided to kill the golden goose.
I've seen the same thing before...managers who know nothing about "value" and everything (they like to think) about "cost". I worked in heavy construction for 30 years. These "book-taught" manager guys bought us "homeowner" quality tools like this:
»www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGu···tID=6321
instead of quality "production" tools like this:
»www.dewalt.com/us/products/tool_···tID=8258
They just couldn't understand that there was a difference. Their thinking was..."they are both "drills", aren't they??"
If Cisco thinks that they are going to stop OTHER manufacturer's from deploying open source...it just won't happen. One day some company like Netgear will wake up and decide to follow the former Linksys path. They won't have "enterprise" quality gear...so they will GLADLY suck up the market share that Cisco is abandoning. Of course, in the future, Cisco will see that they made a tactical error, but it will be too late to recover the lost market share.
MBAs are highly reactive...not pro-active. They want quantification, and because a "geek" thing like "cool" cannot be quantified...it gets disregarded.
"It's still a Linksys, isn't it??"...
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