On Thu, 19 Jul 2007, Luis Villa wrote:
Firmware is also something that should've been done on the hardware in a
perfect world, WMV support is a little different.
It really isn't that different; hardware I can't boot is only
minimally different from hardware I can boot but can't use with the
data I need/want to access.
And whether or not firmware is software or not is completely, totally
irrelevant; it is modifiable and it impacts how people control and use
their computers and their data. That makes it a freedom issue. You can
hide it under semantic blankets if it makes you feel better, but you
*have* made a strategic compromise of user freedom in order to help
users.
Ayup.
The sooner you figure out how to draw real and meaningful boundaries
around that compromise instead of bullshit like 'it isn't software, so
therefore it is alright', the better off we'll all be. As soon as you
have *meaningful* lines instead of semantic hedges, you can actually
start to answer questions about things like codecs in a meaningful
way, instead of having a dramatic and surreal dance around the issues
every time it comes up, as it is about to (again) around non-free web
services, and already has with drivers, firmware, codecs, etc., etc.
Ayup.
So it seems to me that the die is cast for Fedora. It seems to me that
we've backed ourselves into this funky "it's totally free (except where it
isn't)" corner with Fedora.
And if that's the case, my next question will be, "what entity will take
the Fedora base and create a compelling/compromising user experience with
it"? Because that way, we don't even have to bother answering questions
like the proprietary codecs question. We can just proclaim, once and for
all, that IN FEDORA, USERS ARE IMPORTANT, BUT SOFTWARE FREEDOM IS MORE
IMPORTANT, and call it a day.
And you know what? I believe that's okay. I believe that's why we built
the Fedora packaging universe the way we built it. I believe that Fedora
is relatively holy ground -- but I also believe that we should be
encouraging the heretics. Because that allows Fedorans to focus on things
like Gnash and Ogg, and actual desktop usability issues that have nothing
to do with codecs, and we can work on these issues *without compromise* --
but we can encourage some other, hopefully friendly, third parties to do
all the dirty stuff that we won't do with Fedora. Maybe that third party
is rpmfusion. Maybe it's Red Hat working with Fluendo on a desktop
product. But if it's not going to be Fedora, then let's say it's not
going to be Fedora, make CodecBuddy a purely educational tool, and move
on.
--g
--
Greg DeKoenigsberg
Community Development Manager
Red Hat, Inc. :: 1-919-754-4255
"To whomsoever much hath been given...
...from him much shall be asked"
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