[olug] Barracuda violating GPL & Doctrine of First Sale?

[Will Langford]

> Software can only damage hardware if the hardware is defective, generally.
>
> "Back then" is not today. Overclocking is intentional, and not really software
> damaging the hardware, but rather the user telling the hardware to operate
> outside of its limits.

It's still software able to control physical or similar aspects of
hardware, as such, the software can indeed damage the hardware.  Many
PC motherboard manufacturers include similar tools (especially in
enthusiast market).  What if one of these tools was broken, or perhaps
some malware got out... that caused similar hardware failure.  In
regard to 'back then' -- was for demonstrating a point :).

Similarly, what if the linux microcode drivers got irked ?  Or what if
a power management system that controlled system fans got compromised
?  Then there's just old fashioned wear and tear (seeking opposite
ends of physical media constantly to exhaust a system).

User land and kernel land drivers are continuing to interact with
hardware directly, causing physical changes.  These days it just
happens to be power management, microcode, and user-interactive
systems rather than an application/game programmer writing their own
device drivers.

-Will