Netgear router lacks open source

Netgear has been accused of breaking open source licensing conditions, by shipping a Linux-based router without source code, reports ZDNet UK.

The claims were made in a blog post on Wednesday by Harald Welte, Linux watchdog and developer.

Welte told ZDNet UK that the Netgear WNR3500L router, designed for small businesses and consumers, ships with kernel modules which are binary-only.

Symbian has the market share and Apple's iPhone has the mind share, but the future of mobile, however, will be owned by the company or project that best appeals to developers, especially open source developers, states CNET News.

Microsoft, with its long-standing interest in developers, also needs to reach out to open source developers, if it wants to succeed.

Part of this reason is cost and as IBM's Savio Rodrigues suggests, Research In Motion could reduce its cost and improve the reach of its platform through open source.

Palm has established a programme for open source developers wishing to write for Palm's Linux-based Web operating System, according to The H.

For closed source applications the Palm developer programme requires an upfront fee of $99 from developers, with a $50 fee for each app that is published through Palm's App Catalogue.

For open source developers both the up front fee and per app fee is waived.