I second this.
Including nonfree drivers and firmware does not result in the least amount of
problems; it results in the most amount of problems being hidden. Eventually
the nonfree software will fail, and when it does, the person you introduced
GNU/Linux to will be frustrated and assume it's a problem with the OS, and
that Windows is just better, which isn't true.
On the other hand, if you use a distro like Trisquel, that problem shows
itself immediately. This allows you to be up-front with it; rather than your
friend thinking everything is good and getting frustrated later, he/she will
know about the problem *now*, and he/she will have the option to use the
crappy temporary fix, but with the knowledge that it is not a solution and
that he/she should buy new, better hardware ASAP. Or preferably, he/she will
just buy new hardware in the first place.
It might be tempting to try to sugar-coat the situation, because it does help
in the short term, but in the long term, the frustration of things no longer
working will only drive people away.
