On Mon, May 31, 2004 at 06:26:01PM +0200, Wouter Verhelst scribbled:
> Op ma 31-05-2004, om 18:01 schreef Marek Habersack:
> > On Mon, May 31, 2004 at 11:15:51AM -0300, Brian Nelson scribbled:
> > [snip]
> > > > In the case of non-free firmware and the associated brou-ha-ha, it was
> > > > decided, I think, that the needs of our users was best served in the long
> > > > term by also helping Free Software. Considering we have both to worry
> > > > about, there wasn't much else we could do.
> > >
> > > How does removing firmware "help" free software?
> > I guess it promotes learning -
>
> Not that it is a bad thing to urge people to learn, but how is that an
> answer to the above question?
Question was "How does removing firmware "help" free software?", let me
present my reasoning which led to the answer:
1. Removed firmware/driver makes the machine unusable for a user
2. The user is desperate to get the hardware working on debian
3. The user asks on debian-devel or debian-user and is lectured about the
free software and how good it is for it to remove the driver that he was
using for his hardware
4. The user happens to agree with the assesment that it's a good thing for
him, but is still desperate to make it work on debian
5. The user is told that s/he can compile a new kernel for them and make the
hardware work that way
6. The user is told about kernel-package and make menuconfig
7. The user downloads the kernel source from ftp.kernel.org and follows the
directions of how to use the two pieces of software mentioned in #6
8. At the end of the process the user:
- knows more about the linux kernel
- knows how to use the valuable piece of debian, kernel-package
- is aware of the issues related to kernel configuration
- is happy, because his hardware works again with his debian
Thus, I think what I wrote answers the question of "how does removing
firmware help free software"
as a side note - I was being ironic,
have fun,
marek
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