Having the whole firmware OpenSource doesn't help much: you're not going to require that any user has the technical ability to update the firmware. You also not going to require that the vendor has to implement an update mechanism for the ten next years (or even more in some cases). And you are not going to require that all devices needs a community to overcome the limitations of the vendor.
Not to mention that even if the source is open and free (as in speech) it does not mean that it's unmodified upstream or that the patches needed to make it work would be accepted by upstream. Are you OK to manage a collection of patches for the 50+ binaries found in 30,000 IP cameras? I'm not :)
Re: How about open source?
Not to mention that even if the source is open and free (as in speech) it does not mean that it's unmodified upstream or that the patches needed to make it work would be accepted by upstream. Are you OK to manage a collection of patches for the 50+ binaries found in 30,000 IP cameras? I'm not :)