Fun Fact: DirecTV Receivers Use GNU Software
 

I was going through the manual for a DirecTV receiver, and I found out that some of the software on DirecTV receivers is actually open-source, protected by version 2 of the GNU GPL. In case you're curious, here's a link to the relevant part of their terms of service: https://www.att.com/legal/terms.dtv_...enseTerms.html

I know that's actually on AT&T website, but they have deals with DirecTV, so it's alright that it seems a little out-of-place.

Just about any STB will use some form of opensource software, even if it's something like openssl to "phone home" so I'm not particularly surprised.

Search: list of devices that use Linux ;)

Doesn't surprise me one bit. Most devices these days use open-source software. Many of them run Linux. It's absolutely the most-logical way to get the job done. You can leverage a vast library of software without redeveloping it for yourself, as long as you comply with the copyright licensing rules. These days it frankly doesn't make sense to do anything else. (Even Microsoft and IBM are doing it ... a lot.)

What I call "cooperative software development" is the most-effective way that we've ever found to deal with software's horrendous costs.

For instance, Garmin GPS units run Linux. But ... to upgrade maps you need to run macOS or Windows. Many IP cameras run Linux. But ... to set them up DirectX is required. No comments.

Yeah, I remember reading about many devices running Linux about a year ago. I was just pleasantly surprised that DirecTV makes use of some open-source software. Though, I'm not sure how much of DirecTV's receiver software is open-source - I don't know if they're running Linux on those receivers or if it's just a handful of packages. Regardless, part of the reason why I was surprised is because I think of DirecTV being sort of like a cable company because it's in the business of TV service, and cable companies aren't exactly nice, so I wasn't sure if they'd use any software covered by the GPL. I figured that they'd think the GPL was too restrictive, especially since depending on how they implemented it, they might need to release their own source code.

But it's nice to see that a lot of companies are getting into Open Source, even if it's not widely known. I just wish there was a list of all of the companies which use open source software and which products they utilize it in.

there's also a steady trickle of threads from folks who grasped that their smart TV runs android, which is some form of linux, and now they want to install a gnu/linux distro on it.