Fedora Freedom and linux-libre

[jeff]

Hans de Goede wrote:
 > jeff wrote:
>> We're talking about
>>
>>
>>
>>    *  *  * SOFTWARE THE FEDORA PROJECT IS ---> DISTRIBUTING <--- *  *  *
>>
> 
> That is one vision, another vision is we are talking about a bunch of bits,
> which are part of the hardware.

It's software. In the case of tg3.c there is software sitting on someone's hard 
drive, they edit that, run it through a compiler, and spit out non-free 
binaries which Fedora distributes. Just because it runs on hardware doesn't 
make it hardware.

I can't believe you're actually arguing the files in foo-firmware.src.rpm are 
*HARDWARE*. What a crock. Fedora ships hardware thru the internet! A triumph!

You certainly (or very much most likely) didn't get them from the hardware 
either--you probably got them via ftp.

> In some cases these bits which are part 
> of the hardware happen to be stored in a non-volatile storage on the 
> hardware and put on a non-volatile medium which is not physically part 
> of the hardware, in these cases the operating system needs to get this 
> bits from the non-volatile medium and put them in the volatile medium in 
> the hardware before it can use the hardware. That doesn't make these 
> bits any more or less part of the hardware as when they were in a rom.

Wow. I guess doublethinking requires such convoluted logic. Dude, if I can 
download it via FTP it isn't hardware. Get real.

> So what you call software I call part of the hardware, see word game again.

Ya, it's a word game for you apparently, and you are *clearly* on the bullshit 
side of the word game by calling what is software hardware. Since when is 
fedora a hardware company, then? pfft. Wouldn't they have to go thru a whole 
different regulatory scheme to distribute this "hardware".

-Jeff