Libreboot issues an "Open Letter to the Free Software Community"

19 respostas [Última entrada]
jxself
Desconectado
Joined: 09/13/2010
onpon4
Desconectado
Joined: 05/30/2012

That's wonderful news! :D

vita_cell
Desconectado
Joined: 07/19/2015

All this people keeps working hard.

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/31/2014

feuding in an already fragmented community helps nobody. The world of free software is shrinking and under attack. Though the FSF may make mistakes from time to time, so do we. We do not need another divide.

sweet news \o/

tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

I wonder if the libreboot project could set up a policy for listing other suppliers along with Minifree: https://notabug.org/vimuser/libreboot/issues/72

tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

Does someone know if that was the right issue tracker for the libreboot project? My ticket has been played with (see screenshots)

libreboot-72-policy-for-listing-other-suppliers-along-with-minifree.png libreboot-72-gibberish-take1.png libreboot-72-gibberish-take2.png
jxself
Desconectado
Joined: 09/13/2010

My understanding is that this is the correct one. What happened there is unprofessional and inappropriate, IMHO.

jxself
Desconectado
Joined: 09/13/2010

Perhaps things are not so improved. I'm starting to regret having shared the news of this great change that was supposedly happening.

tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

Oh, I guess some things never change. Now I see that I've been impersonated (see screenshot). I would like my proposal to be taken into consideration, not "disregarded", of course.

libreboot-72-impersonation.png
tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

Thankfully, the ticket has been reverted by Alyssa: https://notabug.org/vimuser/libreboot/issues/72

libreboot-72-reverted-by-alyssa.png
tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

But labelled as "off-topic" (although the libreboot.org website source code has been merged in the libreboot source code repository, so both have the same issue tracker) and closed once again, by Alyssa: https://notabug.org/vimuser/libreboot/issues/72#issuecomment-3978

libreboot-72-closed-by-alyssa.png
Soon.to.be.Free
Desconectado
Joined: 07/03/2016

I do hope they list some more suppliers- the 'suppliers.html' list is (was?) linked from the main page, and only displaying Minifree was an absolutely terrible conflict of interest. That said, the page now proclaims:

'Libreboot is not listing suppliers at the moment. Apologies for the inconvenience. See here for information on flashing your own hardware.'

There is *some* change for the better occurring, it seems.

tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

FWIW, this new (temporary) policy is fair.

jorgesumle
Desconectado
Joined: 06/01/2016

Only admins of Libreboot repository can edit issues of other people, so I guess that was made by Leah or someone else with admin roles. It should be a matter of looking at the log registry of the database of NotABug to find out who did this, so I don't know why he/she did that, it's a very childish attitude. If your ticket has been played with (and you didn't do that yourself), I hope to see an apology from the Libreboot repository admins.

tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

I haven't received an apology from Leah. I have received an apology from Alyssa for Leah's behaviour.

IrishUSA
Desconectado
Joined: 12/03/2016

I'm still surprised no one out there, whether a formal company like Minifree, Viking, Technoethical, and Libiquity, or even just some random eBay seller, is yet selling any Libreboot-flashed laptop other than the Lenovos. Nobody's selling:

the ASUS Chromebook C201 https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/c201.html
the MacBook 1,1 https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/#macbook11
or the
the Macbook 2,1 https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/#macbook21

And while Minifree sells Libreboot desktops, nobody is selling a Libreboot-flashed example of this:

the iMac 5,2 https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/imac52.html

If it weren't so darn difficult to do, I'd do it myself. But putting Libreboot on something is a whole different deal thus just installing a Linux distro, let alone a fully free one, on a given PC.

UPDATE: Good news: I see that Minifree offers to flash ANY Libreboot-compatible computer with Libreboot. https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-installation-service/ Bad news: But it costs a whopping €598.00 ($637.85 at time of this post), and that's on top of the cost of the computer itself!! Ouch!!! That's not counting the cost of shipping it to them, nor the extra fee if you have them procure the computer for you. OUCH!

Technoethical offers a similar service for FAR less at €248 ($264.50 at the moment), but no mention of being willing to do it to any non-Lenovo hardware, nor shipping costs.

Also, and separately from the Libreboot issue, I'm curious that there's nobody out there selling a Netbook with Trisquel Mini pre-installed on it, although I know Libiquity offers Trisquel Mini as a non-default option on their Lenovos, which are not netbooks.

tct
tct

I am a member!

Desconectado
Joined: 10/23/2011

Moved to the new official repository/tracker under libreboot: https://notabug.org/libreboot/libreboot/issues/72

Jabjabs
Desconectado
Joined: 07/05/2014

Next time I speak with Zammit I will see what his take on it is. So far great news!

strypey
Desconectado
Joined: 05/14/2015

Reading the notes from Alyssa and Leah actually brought tears to my eyes. It is incredibly brave of her to acknowledge her very public mistakes, admit their negative consequences, apologise by name to John, Reuben, Timothy, and Damien, to the GNU maintainers, and most importantly to the anonymous person who Leah thought she was crusading on behalf of. The burned bridges are not going to be rebuilt overnight, but it's an important step forward for Leah, the Libreboot community, and the software freedom movement as a whole.

I've dealt with people crusading in the same sorts of ways, damaging relationships and burning down projects in their righteousness. Some of them still go around smearing my reputation and working hard to exclude me from projects, and I could count on one hand the number of them who have ever had the integrity to admit their were in the wrong, and apologise to me. Please don't underestimate the strength of character it takes to publicly humble oneself in the way that Leah has done. She deserves our respect, and our support, as she carries on her work for our movement.

Ignacio.Agullo
Desconectado
Joined: 09/29/2009

I am so relieved that things have been straightened out, and Rowe has taken back the accusations towards John Sullivan and Rubén Rodríguez. Now we can start to rebuild back the trust amongst us.

P. S. I had to read the Open Letter on my smartphone (Orange ISP) because on my laptop (R ISP) trying to access https://libreboot.org/ gives me a continued "server not found" message, even though I am accessing with no problems trisquel.info and the rest of the world wide web. WTF?