On Tuesday 03 January 2006 19:43, you wrote:
Luke-Jr wrote:
On Tuesday 03 January 2006 00:19, Richard Piper wrote:
Just curious Luke, how far do you take this belief? Do you only run computers which work with a free-as-in-freedom BIOs as well?
If I had that choice, I certainly would. Ditto for firmware and hardware.
I'm sorry, but at this point, you fall off the edge of your own world. You claim it's immoral for an entity, be it personal or corporate,
"corporate entities" is a bug in certain legal systems, not a real thing.
to distribute *their* creation as they see fit,
The problem is only when "they see fit" involved artificially restricting the rights of others.
yet you find it reasonable to continue to use that same software/hardware?
Not when I have a choice. If I am forced to use something licensed/distributed immorally, well... I'm forced to use it. Not much I can do there. The new open-design PPC system looks promising, though.
You *do* have that choice.
Nope.
You could fabricate your own hardware, and then program it yourself.
I could not, as I lack the skills to design the hardware or to fabricate it.
You *choose* to skip that step and use someone else's piece's and parts, all the while espousing how immoral it all is.
I have no choice but to use the parts someone else has designed due to above limitations of practicality.
The way I see it: the drivers aren't immoral; the company's decision to not open source the drivers was immoral.
And your decision to buy the device and use the drivers is an act of support. Now, obviously if you were given it or had already bought it, that doesn't apply, but you're still sacrificing your rights and piece-of-mind (who knows what backdoors these drivers might have?) by using them.
Are you not, according to your first paragraph, also supporting them? You're obviously using a computer, yet every computer that runs on non free-as-in-beer hardware/software is immoral?
I can only make a choice when a choice is given. If someone pushes you off a tower, are you at fault because you chose to continue falling?