What will you do with Amazon's Kindle source code?
Imagine you wanted to create the Kindle killer, a revolutionary e-book device that matched and improved upon its functionality. What would you do? Well, you could, Mission Impossible-style, break into Amazon's Seattle headquarters and carry off the source code for the Kindle, then copy and extend its functionality to create a competitive device.
Or you could simply download the Kindle's source code from Amazon.com, where Amazon has already released the source code to the Kindle.
In fact, as TechCrunch rightly notes, the Kindle source code has been available since 2007.
Given this fact, why haven't you been doing anything with it? Why hasn't Apple taken the code and built the Kindle's winning technology into the iPhone? Why did Sony bother developing its own e-book reader?
Well, not only is the code in question not directly related to the actual Kindle application experience, as Rod Begbie notes, but instead "just the GPL libraries used to power the Kindle software," but it's also somewhat beside the point.
Apple doesn't use the Kindle code because any e-book it releases will be based on its own design, operating system, etc. Same for Sony and, presumably, for you.
While source code can be useful for learning how to solve complex problems, the actual approach and deployment a developer chooses often precludes her from using someone else's source code, and particularly a big body of code like that used in the Kindle. It could prove to be more work tailoring Amazon's work than simply starting from scratch.
So, bravo to Amazon for living up to its commitments under the GPL and releasing some of the Kindle source code, but don't expect to release a Kindle-killer based on Amazon's code. Amazon has brand, hardware OEM relationships, and other strengths that make its Kindle source code valuable, attributes that you and I almost certainly lack.
Such things are arguably better barriers to competition than patents and copyright.
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Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
And also its not just about having the software to make a Kindle killer its about having the right hardware and price to match.
I mean you could make a eBook with all the best features and could wipe your ass for you but if it cost several hundred dollars over the competition no one will want it.
Much of the kindle code is hardware specific. It is not something easily moved to a different platform.
Why would anyone want a Kindle killer? This POS is going nowhere, only those with a disadvantageous brains to money ratio would spend so much money on a toy. If it were under $50, had no DRM and came with printed copy, it might get some traction.
As it stands today, it is a failure.
Sony has a good ebook hardware. The only thing I would do would be make one slightly bigger in screen size for use with computer manuals, magazines etc where photos are often inserted. There is a larger screen kindle coming out but the expected price is way to high. I like Sony's Idea of being able to add files from my computer directly to it. If i have manuals or magazines I scan into PDF I do not have to use the internet and a wireless connection to transfer them over to a reader.
- by levander404 June 17, 2009 11:11 PM PDT
- I love how Matt starts this article with a presumably huge and giant question. He then finishes the article by pointing out the question is moot anyway. Just a little reminder that your time spent reading this article was wasted.
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