Re: [LUG] Ubuntu and freedom?

Hi all,

I've been thinking a lot about freedom in GNU/Linux. I've come to the
conclusion that it is really the best and most important thing about it
and central to the community element (which I think is fantastic!) as
well. I've been hearing rumours here and there about Ubuntu starting to
include non-free drivers for graphics cards, wireless etc etc by
default; add to that the launchpad system is proprietary. I was
wondering what other people thought about these things and others? I
can't seem to find any significant discussions about it anywhere...

Heh, just look on Planet Ubuntu....

IMO this is good. As I have covered before, it is more important that hardware (e.g. networking) should work than for the system to be "free". Graphics cards are less important and it should be the user's job to install it, provided a usable free driver is included so that they can boot the system properly in the first place.

Basic functionality over freedom, always - for me. I consider anyone who truly would rather have a defunct computer than a slightly proprietary-running one to be at least slightly insane, but I don't mind what they do. It's when the FSF start trying to use Ubuntu as a boat for their political agenda that I become annoyed. Ultimately, the project is about universal access to technology IMO, and if this entails proprietary software so be it.