LWN headline: Blame Fedora = High Praise

[Matt Domsch]

Like it or not, Operating Systems and software run on hardware.

Fedora could decide that Freedom means it's software should only run
on hardware for which the board schematics, chipset and processor
tape-outs, resistor and capacitor specifications are published and
freely available for tinkering.  And indeed, there are some efforts
towards each of these pieces (Open Graphics, LinuxBIOS, ...), and I
encourage them.

However, that would allow roughly 2.8 people (of the 2.8M F6 users [1]) an
opportunity to use Fedora how they want to use it.


I see the "slippery slope" as going the other direction.  There's
already intense pressure on hardware vendors to release Free drivers,
and in some cases, documentation.  With a few notable exceptions, this
pressure has benefited the Linux and Free Software communities
greatly. And this pressure will continue, to the benefit of our users.

However, exclusionary language and demands only serve to alienate
those who we need to work with.  Unless in the name of Free Software,
entire industries spring up to provide Free replacements in the mass
market for those things being excluded.  I see steps noted above, but
nothing large enough that a one-for-one replacement is anywhere near
at hand.

Pressure, encouragement, coaching, education, seeking common good.
These are all appropriate.  Exclusion, derision, moral arguments ("I'm
better than you because...") don't further The Cause.

-Matt


[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Statistics