[fab] /.

[Michael Tiemann]

        2) Drivers Vs Linux
        (Score:5, Interesting)
        by eldavojohn 
        
        A lot of people I talk to say they don't like Linux due to lack
        of driver support. Is there anyway you see this problem being
        eliminated? How do you court vendors to support their hardware
        on your flavor of Linux?
        
        A)

One of the bold goals that we set out when we started the Fedora project
was to create a 100% free and open source distribution.  We wanted to
show the world what free software could do, and we wanted developers and
users to know what the limits of free software were SO THAT WE COULD
ADDRESS THEM.  Is it a bummer that software patents limit software
innovation and freedom?  Hell yes.  Should we paper over this fact in
the name of end-user convenience.  No--that's not the goal of Fedora.

The good news is that FC5 (and FC6t2) have more driver support than ever
before--the result of a team effort across the community--but
there /are/ limitations, and we make those limitations transparent so
that users can vote with their wallets.  If we set a different goal--to
be the best platform for conventional video games, or the best platform
for proprietary media formats, our decision of what packages and drivers
we include would be different.  But we set a goal of free software
because we are more interested in the democratization than assimilation.
We believe we have seen the positive effects of taking this
position..."what doesn't kill us makes us stronger".