Re: Lost Trust
On Mon, May 31, 2004 at 11:15:51AM -0300, Brian Nelson wrote:
> Matthew Palmer <mpalmer@debian.org> writes:
> > 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?
Firstly, we're not "removing firmware" we're removing non-free firmware.
As far as I'm aware, we haven't removed any DFSG-free material deemed usable
by the maintainer.
As to how removing non-free firmware helps free software, it helps for many
of the same reasons removing non-free <anything> helps free software.
1) It encourages free alternatives to be written.
2) It encourages original vendors to open their source to the community if
they deem it appropriate.
3) It encourages people to support vendors who follow the tenets of free
software, making it a more profitable move to do so.
4) It increases awareness of free software and it's tenets.
For firmware, (2) is the most pressing reason, with (3) close behind. (1)
is possible, but not as likely as, for, say, a PDF viewer. (4) is, I will
agree, slightly tongue-in-cheek.
- Matt
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