[BLUG] About the article

[Simon Ruiz]

You have a good point, though there's always gNewSense, the FSF's version of Ubuntu.
 
There's been a huge debate within the Ubuntu community about just such a thing. It's become quite visible in the move towards the default for Feisty which will be that, if your hardware supports it, you will get Beryl. This has been incredibly heated on both sides, really, and I can see both sides arguments equally well.
 
Mark Shuttleworth's position seems to have won out, though not without a fight. He believes that since you've paid for the hardware, you should have full use of it, even if that involves using non-free binary drivers. He doesn't seem to think compromise on anything above the basic hardware access level is acceptable though. He articulates it much better at http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/84
 
I suppose I find that line of reasoning sound, however much I would like the whole she-bang to be completely free I'm not RMS enough to lose that much functionality to do so.
 

________________________________

From: blug-admin_at_cs.indiana.edu on behalf of Michel Salim
Sent: Fri 1/26/2007 12:07 PM
To: blug_at_cs.indiana.edu
Subject: Re: [BLUG] About the article


Sadly, for a lot of us getting a usable Linux system involves using
non-libre components. If you use any distribution with binary drivers
(nvidia, ATI, assorted various drivers, etc.). It's especially
problematic on a laptop, since you can't just swap out the components
that do not have free drivers.

Will be interesting to see the impact when they actually ban
non-GPL-compatible drivers from the kernel entirely.

--
Michel
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