Fedora not "free" enough for GNU?

[Arthur Pemberton]

2008/9/19 Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams <ivazqueznet at gmail.com>:
> On Thu, 2008-09-18 at 08:58 -0400, jude ui wrote:
>> And to repharse my question - Can't you guys reselse the firmware as
>> opensource - are they prosperity drivers? (correct me if I'm wrong)
>
> The firmware is not Fedora's to release. The hardware vendor releases it
> as a binary blob due to at least one of 3 concerns:
>
> 1) Regulatory issues
>
> Hardware vendors need to prevent end-users from modifying the firmware
> so that the hardware can not be driven outside legal ranges.
>
> 2) Intellectual "Property" issues
>
> Hardware vendors don't want other hardware vendors to know how they run
> their hardware so that their design can't be copied or stolen.
>
> 3) Inability to build
>
> Firmware is usually code for some PLD or ASIC, which needs specialized
> (and EXPENSIVE) compilers to build. Most people are unlikely to be able
> to turn the source into the firmware.


Another question I guess would be -- do any of these points benefit
power or regular users?


-- 
Fedora 9 : sulphur is good for the skin
( www.pembo13.com )