Free Linux, Proprietary Linux

[ Thanks to Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for this link. ]

"Recently, the Free Software Foundation announced its latest additions to its listing of open-source purist distributions. This lead me to thinking about both these distributions and the best of the distributions that go the other way and contain a great deal of proprietary programs.

"There was a time when if you wanted to be sure a Linux distribution to work on any PC you almost had to include some proprietary firmware for graphic and Wi-Fi drivers. Those days are long gone. Hardware component manufacturers tend now to either include open Linux drivers or have opened up their specifications enough that Linux developers have created drivers for their equipment."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• FSF takes on Windows 7(Aug 26, 2009)
• Gnash Summer Project Seeks Donations(May 15, 2009)
• Debian Kernel Has No Proprietary Firmware(Apr 24, 2009)
• Enter gNewSense - the free Ubuntu(Apr 16, 2009)
• Non-Free "Blobs" in the Linux Kernel?(Dec 02, 2008)
• Proprietary Firmware and the Pursuit of a Free Kernel(Dec 01, 2008)
• Review: gNewSense 2.1(Sep 22, 2008)
• X.Org 7.4 To Lose DRI2 Support(Aug 05, 2008)