I found this article very interesting:

http://desktoplinux.com/news/NS7103672739.html

I find it interesting that you were able to post that url without it turning into an actual link. A quick look thru the editing options of for LQ didn't turn up a way to do that for me.

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The article is also interesting. I have read enough such position statements to arrive at this conclusion. This sort of thing is a real danger to FOSS. OTOH, it's unavoidable that distributions whose primary aim is to make it easy for Windows users to convert, will drink this particular kool-aid.

I wish there was a way to govern the various distros in a manner that would require any non-free inclusion involve a cash outlay. They wouldn't necessarily have to pay the owner of the non-free item; it could take the form of a contribution to the FSF or some other agency whose goal is the protection of the FOSS movement. This, of course, would require the distros who wished to include proprietary drivers, etc., to charge at least a nominal fee for the activation of those components.

As a committed supporter of FOSS, and a Debian user, I have no such problem. Debian isn't perfect in that area, but they're close enough for me. But, I fear that in the rush for Linux acceptance by the masses, FOSS will suffer. FOSS has provided the groundwork for ALL these distros which are so eager to leave it behind, and it seems to me that as they chase the money, they owe something to someone.

I say, "Bully for Linspire!" They unapologetically include non-free elements and they charge for that privilege. That's the way it should work.

Hm another distro chasing the Ubuntu fad rather than sticking with the parent distro Debian. I will never understand the whole release thing. The whole point of Debian is once you install you never ever have to install it again.

As for commercial/non-free drivers/packages unfortunately they are still a necessary evil. Blame the hardware companies like Nvidia/ATI as well as some of the network driver companies. If you want 3d and wireless your pretty much stuck using non-free.

I differentiate between me, the end user, finding proprietary software and installing it; as opposed to the distribution developers doing it for me.

I also like the idea proposed by ESR in World Domination 201, that someone should gather up all the proprietary codecs, drivers, etc., tailor them for specific distros, and sell them, using the proceeds to pay the providers. That way people are forced to choose whether or not to install them, thus keeping the concept of FOSS at the forefront.

I have no problem paying for proprietary drivers or applications when required to achieve the functionality I want or need. We shouldn't however leave out all the proprietary but free drivers available since their creators chose not to charge for that software. Companies like Nvidia and ATI make their revenue from the sale of hardware. I like GPL but feel that dictating the terms under which vendors provide free software for their hardware is a bit of a push.