[Nook Color Android Development] rhester72:
mr_fosi,

I strongly considered not replying...but I feel rather obligated, probably in much the same misguided way you did.

Truth be told, I've followed the IMEI discussion from day 1, and was researching the issue long before Swype caused it to suddenly become a popular point of discussion. I said nothing earlier because I wanted to see how and where things involved, and interjected only when I sensed that there was a bit too much 'well, I want it like this' going on, without consideration for an _optimal_ solution. And while I have tremendous respect for DizzyDen putting together something to get us 'over the hump', so to speak, I hardly think the capability of putting together some wrapper code necessarily translates into a guarantee of the sort of forward thinking one comes to expect from the CM7 development community.

If it were _me_, honestly, I'd solve the problem of fitting a too-long number into a too-small space quite simply - putting the serial and MAC together, and hashing the combined value, using the test IMEI space (for obvious reasons), to guarantee uniqueness in a manner that is also compatible with _other_ tablet devices that face the same problem (whether they know it yet or not). Such an algorithm is trivial, simple to mathematically prove uniqueness, and easy to implement in code. This isn't a back-of-the-napkin answer...it's coming from 25 years of professional background with this sort of thing, not that it seems to matter in this context.

However, given the extraordinary lack of professionalism on the part of armchair experts like yourself, honestly, I don't much care anymore _what_ solution is eventually adopted. Fact of the matter is that I make a concerted effort to -avoid- software that uses IMEI locking as an "anti-piracy" tool. But as the resident 'johnny-come-lately gainsayer', I was struck by DD's seeming lack of interest in any solution other than the one he came up with, despite the very credible arguments against it (a classic case of Not Invented Here syndrome), and spoke up because I felt it was _needed_ lest the solution go off the rails and become some sort of niche kludge applicable only to the Nook and technically unacceptable to the CM7 crew in general (who prefer global solutions to local ones, again, for obvious reasons).

Since apparently expressing dissenting opinion renders one Public Enemy Number One on this particular forum, I'm not really interested in contributing any further to the discussion...particularly when it's obvious that any contributions outside of party lines are _not_ desired.

I will, however, close by pointing out that - as far as I can see - it was your rant that added significantly to the noise-to-signal ratio in the thread, as it added absolutely no value whatsoever other than an opportunity for a bit o' virtual (and quite unnecessary) chest-puffing. I've been a very publicly recognized F/OSS developer since before it was called that, but I saw no reason to start throwing credentials on the table...all I wanted to do was help ensure that *whatever* solution is ultimately used, it's the best fit for CM7 _overall_, and that decisions aren't guided by personal prejudices or "well, I already did it like that - what will my early adopters say?!?". Clearly that was a waste of time.

Sally forth, brave heroes. I have other problems to solve.

Rodney