Take your freedom back, with Linux-2.6.33-libre

“Linux hasn’t been Free Software since 1996, when Mr Torvalds
accepted the first pieces of non-Free Software in the distributions
of Linux he has published since 1991. Over these years, while this
kernel grew by a factor of 14, the amount of non-Free firmware
required by Linux drivers grew by an alarming factor of 83. We,
Free Software users, need to join forces to reverse this trend, and
part of the solution is Linux-libre, whose release 2.6.33-libre was
recently published by FSFLA, bringing with it freedom, major
improvements and plans for the future.

“== History

“All firmware in Linux-1.3.0 was Free Software. Whatever little
relevance the GNU/Linux operating system had back in 1995 was
enough for a few hardware vendors to disclose the details of their
hardware or even offer all the software needed to make it work
under terms that respected users’ essential freedoms. They knew
Linux, already licensed under the GNU GPLv2, wouldn’t have drivers
for their components otherwise.

“Over the year that followed, Mr Torvalds changed his stance,
and started accepting binary-only firmware in Linux. Because of
this decision, GNU/Linux ceased to be an incentive for hardware
vendors to respect users’ essential freedoms. Since the Linux
developers forfeited the defenses provided by the GPL, nearly all
of the vendors decided to keep only to themselves the control over
the ever-growing computers that passed for peripherals.”

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