I know previously I said I thought that firmware didn't matter for freeness, but I've been convinced by the arguments here that I was wrong. Anyway, what I really wanted to say is that as a user (who hopes to get time to contribute, maybe even eventually as a DD), that I chose Debian because of the Social Contract, and DFSG-freeness. I would rather have to watch what hardware I by then lose the benefits of software freedom. For me the whole point of free software is not that I can download it free of charge, but that I can change it, or hire someone to do so, rather than depending on the good will (or same interests), of some large monopolistic corporation. Software freedom is about choice. That said, there are definite areas that need improvement, and which, for many users, overshadow the ideals of software freedom. I will soon be facing a tough choice between what I value about Debian, and the likely fact of another distribution being selected as the local LUG standard (the objective of having a standard distro is to make support after an installfest more likely and more effective) because of concerns about easy of use, especially for new users. Cheers, Daniel -- GnuPG Key Fingerprint 86 F5 81 A5 D4 2E 1F 1C http://gnupg.org And that's my crabbing done for the day. Got it out of the way early, now I have the rest of the afternoon to sniff fragrant tea-roses or strangle cute bunnies or something. -- Michael Devore
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