Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Libre Mobile

[hellekin]

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On 06/12/2013 01:04 PM, Harry Prevor wrote:
> I hate to break it to you guys, but considering we don't even have
> a 100% free *computer* yet, we're still a far way away from being
> able to say a phone is completely free. In fact, I'll go ahead and
> claim that it's impossible to achieve simply based upon the fact
> that nobody has done it yet. I'd love to be proven wrong though.
> 
> I feel like the main reason why there hasn't been much success in 
> "completely free" recently is because nobody understands what it 
> really means. Let's break it down for a moment:
> 
> 1. Assume 50% of people in the world know what software is. 2.
> Assume 5% of those people actually care whether or not their 
> software is proprietary or "open source". 3. Assume 5% of those
> people want their software to be truly free and not just "open
> source". 4. Assume 5% of those people aren't fooled by products
> like Android (not AOSP, but modified Android on phones) that almost
> always contains blobs and added proprietary software from OEMs. 5.
> Assume 5% of those people know that Linux isn't actually free -- it
> contains tons of binary blobs and firmware. 6. Assume 5% of those
> people want all of their software to be free. 7. Assume 5% of those
> people aren't satisfied with the freedom of their current setup. 8.
> Assume 5% of those people know about and are willing to fork over 
> the $700 to buy a Lemote Yeeloong. 9. Assume 5% of those people
> know that even the Lemote Yeeloong isn't truly free due to nonfree
> embedded controller firmware and nonfree firmware on the HDD. 10.
> Assume 5% of those people want to do something about it.
> 
> Well, right there we have .000000000097% of the world's
> population. Assuming 7 billion people in the world, that's about
> half of half of half of one person. No wonder nobody's done it
> yet.
> 
*** You simply proved that your assumptions are wrong.

- From 2. to 3., I would say you keep more than 50%, and among those,
I'd say almost all are not fooled by Android, and 100% know the
difference between Linux and Linux-Libre. 6 is a repetition of 3, so
it's irrelevant. 7 is another take at 3. 8 seems irrelevant to me
because, as you said per 9., the Lemote is not truly free.

8 would be about throwing money at Qi Hardware, to buy a Ben Nanonote,
or a MilkyMist One. That would certainly help changing the face of
free hardware when people start to realize that buying from the
inventors fuels their developments. Finally, I think you underestimate
the number of people who actually "want to do something about it." It
would be more accurate to add up the number of people participating in
Qi, OpenPhoenux, MilkyMist, Replicant, H-Node, etc. It might be around
1000, but certainly not zero.

I strongly agree with Patrick that when we realize that we can pool
resources to own labs, factories, chip fabs, etc., we're a step
further on the way to hardware freedom. The issue is convincing a
critical mass of people that it's doable. Capitalism is very good at
convincing few rich people that they will get more than they put:
money for money is easy to understand. But when it concerns social
capital, the deal is way more difficult to compute. See how waste
management is not a matter of ecology, but a profitable deal that
doesn't help much recycling--and when it does, it's because there's
profit made out of a "free" resource (people even pay to get rid of
their waste.)

==
hk

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