Closed-source considered harmful (was: JavaScript considered harmful)

[Brett g Porter]

"Christopher Barber" <cbarber at curl.com> wrote in message
news:psoitacmnxf.fsf at jekyll.curl.com...
> Cliff Wells <logiplexsoftware at earthlink.net> writes:
>
> > But since we're starting a list:
> > 3.  Cars are inherently open-source: anyone with knowledge and tools can
> > work on them.
>
> This is not entirely true.  You still are stuck with having to buy parts
from
> someone.  Many auto parts can only be obtained from the manufacturer.  How
> open is that?
...and even worse, most modern cars aren't the kind of things that you can
poke around with and fix. Every problem that I've had (other than the
screaming obvious low-tech oil change type stuff) has required the
replacement of a monolithic module. I've read that there's a growing
aftermarket EPROM scene to modify your engine's shift points.

...unless Oleg includes EPROM burners as automotive tools.