informIT: The Role of Binary Drivers in a Free OS

“There’s a lot of controversy over whether a Free Software
operating system should include binary-only drivers. Arguments on
both sides range from the philosophical to the practical, all of
which are worth examining.

“Before we look at whether there should be binary drivers in a
free OS, it’s worth looking at what exists at the moment. The most
hard-line platform in this area is OpenBSD, which flatly refuses to
allow binary blobs in kernelspace, citing reliability and security
concerns. FreeBSD is a different matter; it includes some binary
drivers for things like RAID chipsets in the base system…”

Complete
Story