What is Tivoization?
In: Technology
Linux is distributed under the General Public License, version 2 license (GPL2).
The general terms of the GPL is that you’re allowed to use, modify and distribute the product, only so long you grant those rights to others. It makes it a communal sort of work. You’re legally forbidden from making modifications and then not releasing them, or from forbidding others from building further upon the work. The full explanation is a bit complicated, but those are the basics.
What this means for a company that makes a product that uses Linux is that any modifications they make to Linux must be open, and available for others to improve on.
A Tivo is a device for watching TV shows that uses Linux. However, the device itself refuses to work if you modify it. Which means that though it follows the letter of the GPL2, in practice you can’t improve on it, because the resulting software is best used on a Tivo, which will refuse to run your modifications.
Some people objected to this, and so licenses like the GPL3 were born which further forbid locking down the software in such a manner. If it runs GPL3 licensed software, the software must be possible to improve, rebuild and upload back to the device it runs on.
Some people think this is a good idea because what Tivo did violates the spirit of the license. Some think this is going too far.
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