tweak wording on paragraph; the substance is unchanged
the substance of the message is no different, but the message is now much more effective and the reader is less likely to turn away; much of the arguments are emotionally driven, as opposed to factual, so using such "insulting" language is probably not a good idea my motivation is to encourage the fsf to improve, not to attack it. the fsf should work with the community, not against it; similarly, libreboot and osboot should not be seen to attack the fsf. however, constructive criticism is ok, and that is entirely the purpose of this articlehslick-master
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@ -99,23 +99,24 @@ The FSF RYF guidelines state the following:
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*"However, there is one exception for secondary embedded processors. The exception applies to software delivered inside auxiliary and low-level processors and FPGAs, within which software installation is not intended after the user obtains the product. This can include, for instance, microcode inside a processor, firmware built into an I/O device, or the gate pattern of an FPGA. The software in such secondary processors does not count as product software."*
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This is absolute pure nonsense, and should be rejected on ideological grounds.
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The rest of libreboot's policy and overall ideology expressed, in this article,
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will be based largely on that rejection. The term *product software* is
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completely asinine; software is software, and software should always be *free*.
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Instead of making such exceptions, more hardware should be encouraged, with
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help given to provide as much freedom as possible, while providing education
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to users about any pitfalls they may encounter, and encourage freedom at all
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levels. When an organisation like the FSF makes such bold exceptions as above,
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it sends the wrong message, by telling people essentially to sweep these other
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problems under the rug, just because they involve software that happens to run
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on a "secondary processor". If the software is possible to update by the user,
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then it should be free, regardless of whether the manufacturer *intended* for
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it to be upgraded or not. Where it really *isn't* possible to update such
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software, proprietary or not, advice should be given to that effect. Education
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is important, and the FSF's criteria actively discourages such education; it
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creates a false hope that everything is great and wonderful, just because the
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software on one arbitrary level is all free.
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This is a violation of every principle the FSF stands for, *and it should be
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rejected on ideological grounds*. The rest of libreboot's policy and overall
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ideology expressed, in this article, will be based largely on that rejection.
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The definition of *product software* is completely arbitrary; software is
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software, and software should always be *free*. Instead of making such
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exceptions, more hardware should be encouraged, with help given to provide as
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much freedom as possible, while providing education to users about any pitfalls
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they may encounter, and encourage freedom at all levels. When an organisation
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like the FSF makes such bold exceptions as above, it sends the wrong message,
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by telling people essentially to sweep these other problems under the rug, just
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because they involve software that happens to run on a "secondary processor".
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If the software is possible to update by the user, then it should be free,
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regardless of whether the manufacturer *intended* for it to be upgraded or not.
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Where it really *isn't* possible to update such software, proprietary or not,
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advice should be given to that effect. Education is important, and the FSF's
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criteria actively discourages such education; it creates a false hope that
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everything is great and wonderful, just because the software on one arbitrary
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level is all free.
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This view of the FSF's, as expressed in the quoted paragraph, assumes that
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there is primarily *one* main processor controlling your system. On many
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