[Fwd: Re: Fedora free software?]

[Dave Jones]

On Tue, Mar 20, 2007 at 03:15:39PM -0500, Tom spot Callaway wrote:
 > -------- Forwarded Message --------
 > > From: Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org>
 > >
 > >     I honestly wish we didn't have to have such a clause, but without binary
 > >     firmware, the vast majority of wireless hardware is completely
 > >     non-functional.
 > > 
 > > We have to recommend that people buy the only products that don't
 > > require non-free firmware.  See the Hardware pages on fsf.org.
 > > Can you help spread the word about this?
 > 
 > The link that RMS is referring to is here:
 > http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/hardware.html
 > 
 > I don't think there is any harm in Fedora recommending that consumers
 > purchase wireless products that don't require firmware. I'm not entirely
 > sure the best way to go about this, though.

We can certainly promote it, but I don't think we should go to the extreme of
not shipping firmware just because it's "non free".

This problem is much bigger than just wireless too. If we decide to go the
crazy debian route of not shipping firmware, we can forget about a ton of
storage hardware, a bunch of ethernet drivers, x86 microcode updates, some
sound cards and probably a bunch of USB gadgets.

Neutering our drivers just as we're starting to get somewhere with "works out
of the box" would be a huge step backwards.   Is it worth driving
more users towards Ubuntu in the name of "freedom", especially given
it's a freedom that few (if any) would ever exercise?

"Buy something else" isn't really an answer for situations where you can't
/get/ something else.  Try finding a laptop with a wireless chipset that
doesn't need firmware.

	Dave


-- 
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk