Andreas Hanke wrote:
[...] I'm just trying to explain *why* the user's winmodem didn't work in a default installation and *why* it will probably not work better in future default installations of (open)SUSE, and actually I doubt that other distributors can continue with proprietary kernel modules in the same way they are currently distributing them. Maybe one or two years, but not more. The "pressure" from actual Linux contributors and copyright holders (not users) is too high.
In principle I agree with you. But, you know, it somehow looks like a fight between the open source community and (maybe) the Linux distributors on the one hand and the hardware/software driver manufacturers on the other hand. And the loser is the end user, as usual. I don't think it was a good idea to drop the shipment of proprietary modules at a moment's notice (from SUSE XX.X to XX.Y) *without* an adequate replacement that makes the transition as smooth as possible for the end user. First getting a solution in place and *then* making the move would have been much better from my point of view. Sometimes I really have problems explaining something like this to a user that is new to Linux and only wants an easy installation of his chosen Linux distribution (whatever it is)... Cheers, Th. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-help@opensuse.org