Il 31.05.2012 18:03 Niels Serup ha scritto:
1. Free software is more important than free hardware design, because
it
is more useful. Free hardware design is still important.
2. Free software cannot be compared with free hardware design,
because
software is very different from hardware. Both are simply
important. There is no ordering.
In both cases, free hardware design is important.
I agree with conclusion 2. Hardware shouldn't be "punished" for being
difficult to copy; just because it does not give me as many practical
advantages as software, it is still just as important.
I do, however, understand the pragmatism behind choosing conclusion
1.
In my personal opinion, free software and free hardware are both
relevant. More, there are many other general aspects which are relevant:
formats, standards, copyright, patents, privacy... and other political
and social points...
And they are ALL relevant the same way: freedom is something basically
non-technical, and is dinamically related to relationships... it means
self-definition and self-determination of ourself and of our ways of
expression, as individuals and within self-organized and self-managed
relationships among people... so freedom cannot be divided in separate
chunks
In the end, believing that something is x important or x + y
important
(where x is the level of importance and y is positive) probably
matters
little in the case of non-open hardware, as we have to rely on
manufacturers if we want to use electronics. We can write free
replacements, but those will have to be produced.
if in dubt of the importance and implications of free hardware respect
to our freedom, please see also:
Schneier on Security: Backdoor Found (Maybe) in Chinese-Made Military
Silicon Chips
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/05/backdoor_found.html
Chinese Cyberwarriors in your Chips? - Unscrewing Security
http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/unscrewing-security/2012/05/chinese-cyberwarriors-in-your-chips/index.htm
Silicon backdoor: not an international crisis • The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/29/researcher_trolls_internet_with_silicon_backdoor/
Latest news on my hardware security research
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sps32/sec_news.html#Assurance
Regards
--
al3xu5 / dotcommon
Support free software! Join FSF: http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=7535