Dell: Follow the Spirit of Ubuntu
,----[ Quote ]
| “I hear you when you say “users want proprietary codecs”. That’s why we make
| sure these items ARE available, at the user’s option, as packages on the
| network repositories. That allows users who need that functionality, or who
| choose that functionality over free alternatives, to exercise that choice
| freely. We don’t make that choice for them, though of course there is huge
| demand from real users for that. And we will stay firm in that regard. Ubuntu
| does not, and will never, include proprietary applications.“
|
| Ubuntu 7.10 will automatically offer Adobe's Flash or the libre Gnash plugin
| when Firefox encounters a SWF file, so there is NO NEED to bundle it.
`----
http://binaryfreedom.info/node/292
As justification, one might consider:
Proprietary software is untrustworthy and harms society
,----[ Quote ]
| There is no reason to give any person or organization that has mistreated you
| the benefit of reasonable doubt. There are plenty of reasons to insist on an
| ethical society of equals where people enjoy freedoms to run, inspect, share,
| and modify computer software so they can organize into a mutually beneficial
| society.
`----
http://www.digitalcitizen.info/2007/12/30/proprietary-software-is-untrustworthy-and-harms-society/
And it can be done the free way:
The Ubuntu Experiment
,----[ Quote ]
| This isn’t the regular granny-test - this time, we’ll put Ubuntu’s famous
| user-friendliness to the test the right way.
|
| In this experiment, Ubuntu will face Windows, but it’s going to be a fair
| game. This means that I will not customise Ubuntu to make it easier to use -
| no, it will come exactly as-is.
`----
http://theubuntuexperiment.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/the-ubuntu-experiment/
Related:
Dell announces Ubuntu 7.10 PCs with DVD playback
,----[ Quote ]
| It has long been possible to play DVDs on Linux. However, with most Linux
| distributions, it is necessary to manually enable this functionality. That is
| because while the user may legally own both the DVD he or she is trying to
| play and the computer it's being played on, in the United States, enabling
| open-source-based operating systems to play commercial DVDs, with their wide
| variety of DRM (digital rights management) schemes, is something of a legal
| swamp. There are legal ways around this, and presumably Dell has invested in
| one of them.
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7924076658.html
Dell pushes for better Linux drivers
,----[ Quote ]
| Amit Bhutani told a session at the Ubuntu Live 2007 conference that Dell has
| several "areas of investigation" when it comes to Linux.
`----
http://www.crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=87745&src=site-marq
Since when is Dell Gutsy Gibbon not Ubuntu?
,----[ Quote ]
| However, LinDVD is not free and therefore presents a philosophical problem
| for those who would not have the name of Ubuntu sullied through association
| with a proprietary software bundle.
|
| [...]
|
| "It looks like Dell wants to create a DellOS distro based on Ubuntu with
| various of proprietary things in the mix (ala Linspire) to help sell their
| computers. There’s nothing stopping them from doing that, but is it really
| fair for Dell to be calling this “Ubuntu” though?"
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15871/1023/
|
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