[Fsf-friends] Dont be proud of freedom if its through linspire

[Harish Narayanan]

Hiran Venugopalan wrote:
> I am now seeing many guys here who SAYS them as Linux [GNU/Linux Users] and
> talks about freedom.But when I ask them about the distro there reply is some
> times sad one for me - linspire.I dont think the linspire as Linux.Itssimply
> proprietary.Its on EULA.Although the basic GNU/Linux system is free
> software, most of the GNU/Linux versions now available include a small
> amount of non-free software--just enough to spoil them as a way to attain
> freedom. But Linspire is in a class by itself; large and important parts of
> this system are non-free. No other GNU/Linux distribution has back slided so
> far away from freedom. Switching from MS Windows to Linspire does not bring
> you to freedom, it just gets you a different master.
>   

Not that I disagree with you or anything, but in an attempt to correct 
that image, they've recently released a project called  Freespire 
[http://www.freespire.org/]. As far as I understand it, this contains 
Free software, whereas Linspire is the tainted product with all the 
proprietary drivers, codecs and software.

Actually, I just went though their FAQ, and quoting from question number 6:

"6. So, is Freespire open source or proprietary?

Again, the choice is yours. There are two versions of Freespire 
available. The main Freespire version is approximately 99% open source, 
as it does include certain proprietary drivers, codecs and software in 
cases where there are no viable open source solutions yet available."

Clearly, they haven't learnt. Don't mind this e-mail.

Harish