this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2024
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Don't worry, the whole thing is that GNU boot contains proprietary firmware for testing coreboot. The only distros affected are GNU Boot and Canoe Boot. Upstream coreboot has that testing firmware there intentionally so it's silly to call it "affected".
FSF is doing great stuff for the world but I think FOSS is kinda held back by being led by nerds that are "a bit different". (edit: I mean that with respect. These nerds are surely nice people and great coders but imo not great philosophical leaders)
They're a bunch of idealists that are detached from reality. Kinda reminds me of myself back when I was still in college.
Yeah and thanks to us you get to enjoy free software, yet you insult us for how we think and try to get and keep open software open.
Up yours
You are right that the tone was a little insulting.
That said, who is the “us” that you are referring to?
A lot of Open Source software is written by people that would not see the use of non-free components for testing as a problem. A lot of Open Source software is written by people that believe in the superiority of collaborative software development but do not have strong opinions on user freedom. The may ever value developer freedom in ways that is incompatible with the most extreme or idealist views of user freedom.
Are you demanding recognition to “us” for all that software?
The post you are replying to was unnecessarily combative. Your is no better and is supported by no better moral high-ground.
You're saying that, and yet even Leah Rowe is sick of that.
Also, try not to take my words out of context. We're talking specifically about the project mentioned in the article. Tell me, what value has canoeboot and GNU boot provides?
Coming from a (pragmatic) fan of GNU projects.
Clarify the part where you said it's like when you were back in college.
The hard part here is that while you get a chance to restate your point, readers may already expect this one to sound belittling and you'll have to try harder so this one also doesn't sound like you're calling people naive.
Look, when you're trying to get your computer working I agree. I don't mind having to use nonfree stuff if I literally cannot boot otherwise. But if we don't have strong ideological fighters pushing for things like totally free systems then we wouldn't be where we are today and we would always have to use non free stuff. So it's definitely important we have people who are more ideologically idealist.
When Stallman was saying that smartphones would become a spying device, people were calling him crazy.
I am still thinking he's a bit on the crazy spectrum, but that some food for thought...
Crazy doesn't necessarily mean wrong 🤷♂️ Stallman is undeniably crazy
Stallman is often batshit insane, but when it comes to tech he knows what he's saying.
I would trust a doctor when he says about something about my stomach, I wouldn't trust them about astrophysics.
I would trust Stallman about how computers can be misused and mistreated, same as Cory Doctorow. I wouldn't trust both about a small part of history, unless it was obvious or very well cited.
They may be idealists that don't reflect a use case I think is reasonable to expect of the average user, but I would also say that it's very important to have them there, constantly agitating for more and better. They certainly don't manage to land on achieving all their goals, but they also prevent a more compromising, "I just need to use my stuff now, not in 10 years when you figure out a FOSS implementation" stance from being used to slowly bring even more things further away from FOSS principles in the name of pragmatism.