[Ubuntu-ch] Free/libre/open hardware label?

[Ramón Cahenzli]

Hi Kim,

2010/1/29 Kim Tucker <kctucker at gmail.com>:
> Hi all,
>
> I have always found it weird to see labels on hardware which say "Designed
> for <some proprietary _software_>".
>
> What would it take to have similar labels which say "Open standards
> compliant" or "open hardware" or "hardware libre"?

There are some developments in this direction, for example

Freie Computer: http://www.freiecomputer.ch
OpenPC: http://open-pc.com/

I can tell you from discussions in Freie Computer that it's NOT easy
to establish such a label :)  We may all be united behind a cause of
Free Software (although even that is debatable, since there is also
Open Source), but there are so many little differences and nuances
that it's hard to get behind one single standard.

This is an issue in FOSS circles anyhow, there are so many opinions
and so many flavors of the same thing. From the outside, it all looks
like the same. On the inside, it's not. I suppose you have the same
problem in politics, and I guess the only way to improve things is to
be open for a compromise in some issues. The ultimate problem is that
some issues don't allow any compromise at all, because accepting one
would mean to betray the thing you stand for.

My god, it's complicated...

- rca