The Case for Non-Free Firmware By Default

Ubuntu comes with a nice application called “Hardware Drivers” (a.k.a. jockey-gtk) for installing proprietary drivers for wireless cards and other devices that lack open-source support. This is great, except when your only connection to the Internet is wireless and you have no way to download the driver or firmware you need. Here’s why this situation should change.

The reasoning behind the exclusion of closed-source drivers from the default Ubuntu system centers on legal and philosophical issues. In some cases, Ubuntu’s legal right to redistribute proprietary binaries is in dispute. And most Ubuntu developers consider a dependency on closed-source code as incompatible with the Ubuntu philosophy.

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