algeriatul team mailing list archive

[»John« <JnS.002@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi there.


> I dont see how you get from portable binary drivers to binary blobs.

If you factor in my understanding of the word "blob" (which for me
equals "binary (only) drivers", not "free drivers in their pre-compiled
form"), then you just answered yourself.


> With my suggestion you would be able to for example use the GPL
drivers from Linux on FreeBSD or Solaris without recompiling them. If we
also would be able to agree on standard for packages and repositories
you would also be able to just install the drivers from a common
repository.

And that's what I agreed would be really cool about this universal
driver interface (among other things).

Anyway, I've been thinking about this a little more and here's the
result:
Got a flash drive, external hard drive, memory card reader, PostScript
printer or a decent webcam embedded to your laptop (just a few examples
from the top of my head)? They all work like a charm right out of the
box (and they probably did long before you first decided to try some
random free OS), right? That's because all these devices adhere to open
standards defining how particular sort of hardware has to behave from
the software perspective - both input and output is well defined. They
must understand certain commands and be able to at least explain their
output to the driver if it's mandatory format isn't already defined
within the standard itself. That way every device in the same hardware
class becomes just a different hardware implementation of the same
concept with SIMPLE GENERIC DRIVERS (one driver to rule them all) and
YOU GET A FLAWLESS OUT OF THE BOX SUPPORT FOR YOUR DEVICE. I think that
what we really need is to put more pressure on hardware manufacturers to
make them move in that direction which combined with your idea would
blast all the hardware support M$ likes to brag about so much into
oblivion.

-- 
Microsoft has a majority market share
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1
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Bug description:
Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.
This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.

Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry, restricting access to IT to a small part of the world's population and limiting the ability of software developers to reach their full potential, globally. This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.

Steps to repeat:

1. Visit a local PC store.

What happens:
2. Observe that a majority of PCs for sale have non-free software pre-installed.
3. Observe very few PCs with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed.

What should happen:
1. A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software like Ubuntu.
2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and benefits would be apparent and known by all.
3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes.