Fedora Freedom and linux-libre

jeff moe at blagblagblag.org
Tue Jun 17 19:56:45 UTC 2008


max wrote:
> jeff wrote:
>> Hans de Goede wrote:
>>> It depends on your definition of software, according to Fedora's 
>>> definitions firmware is not software it is content. I know this is a 
>>> word game, but think about it, what is the definition of software?
>>
>>  From the Oxford English Dictionary:
>>
>> software
>>     1. Computers.    a. The programs and procedures required to enable 
>> a computer to perform a specific task, as opposed to the physical 
>> components of the system (see also quot. 1961).    b. esp. The body of 
>> system programs, including compilers and library routines, required 
>> for the operation of a particular computer and often provided by the 
>> manufacturer, as opposed to program material provided by a user for a 
>> specific task.
>>
>>
>> I didn't realize fedora was claiming that firmware isn't software. Now 
>> that is bullshit. You call it a word game, I'll call it what it is. 
>> *Content??!* It's obviously software. I mean, it can be copied, it can 
>> be rewritten (well, by the people in the castle with the code), it can 
>> be compiled, etc... Clearly software. I guess you need a PhD to delude 
>> yourself otherwise.
>>
>> Usually techs are so precise, I can't believe the doublethinking here.
>>
> 
> You are starting to work against yourself. Firmware usually comes with 
> my devices, it is reloadable but it comes with the device when I make 
> the purchase, I don't have to load firmware into a device to make it 
> work in the first place. It is part of the hardware because the hardware 
> requires it to run. I thought that was why software and firmware where 
> two different terms. Firmware is software but the hardware relies on it 
> to function and it is included in the purchase price of the hardware. 
> Software is generally acquired separately from the hardware. 
> Windows(software) comes preinstalled on many computers(hardware) but I 
> can remove windows and still have functional hardware but if I remove 
> the BIOS , windows nor linux will run.


If you remove the non-free software from tg3.c the device will still work. "It 
is part of the hardware because the hardware requires it to run", you wrote. 
What does that make the non-free software in tg3.c?

-Jeff




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