Now this idea of removing all this non-GPL stuff.... what was gained by that? And that is a Novell-only decision, right?
Firstly, a good introductory article here (this one specifically about video drivers) http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39352584,00.htm ( http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39352584,00.htm ) This article is from April 18, 2006. Basically says that some of the hardware manufacturers' drivers are closed-source; because A: some choose not to offer an open source version B: some don't have a choice (in the case of ATI it's because they have IP obligations) and as far as the Free Software Foundation (who wrote the GPL) are concerned, proprietary drivers and the GPL don't mix... and the GPL applies to all flavours of Linux, not just SuSE. So what was gained...? compliance to the GPL "standard"... meeting legal requirements... <insert other answers here>...
Actually it was the kernel devs that dictated it, they didn't ask it to be so they made it mandatory.
a post on the kernel developers* http://lwn.net/Articles/159313/ This article is from Nov 9, 2005 "Linux kernel developers will not help users who have proprietary drivers loaded into their systems.... the developers have no way to track down problems when closed-source code is running." Is this just a "dictatorial" attitude, or reasonable good sense? And if you had your own linux distro, would you choose to include proprietary drivers if it meant losing support from the kernel developers? *Don't miss the posting (apparently) by Linus himself, referenced in this article, WELL WORTH SHARING, dated Feb 7, 1999 (find it here: http://lwn.net/1999/0211/a/lt-binary.html ) (NB this post was made in 1999, his views may have changed, and hey, we all need to let off steam occasionally) I am open-minded and open to being educated, by all means point out my mistakes so that I can learn from them. Vaughan This email and any attachments are confidential and are only to be read by the addressee. They may contain legally privileged information or copyright material. You should not read, copy, use or disclose them without written authorisation. If you are not an intended recipient, please contact the sender at once by return email and delete this email (including all attachments).