The pure ridiculousness that is FSF certification
https://www.mail-archive.com/replicant@osuosl.org/msg00700.html
@calebccff Why do you call the certification ridiculous?
I would say that what is ridiculous in this context is the apparent lack of devices with free firmware.
To me, it makes sense that the FSF does not want to endorse the use of nonfree software.
@eliasr FSF would be quite comfortable allowing wifi, the condition is just that the firmware must be hidden from the user.
soo, if you have to upload firmware at runtime, its a nogo, if the firmware is built-in then all golden.
this is just encouraging obfuscation and making it much harder to reverse engineer / hack on firmware...
it isnt useful to have these requirements. its a joke.
@calebccff Thanks for answering!
I see your point, but I still understand why the FSF do as they do regarding the certification. It allows them to keep a simple view of things: we have a piece of hardware (like a phone or laptop) and then we have the software that we install on it. That software should be free software. There is some advantage to this simplicity, I think.
Anyway, it is certainly a difficult question, how to formulate such a certification.
