Update On OpenBSD Firmware Activism

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WHich bring up another angle. It's hardware. I doubt Intel has any 'obligations to others' as far as making a detailed description of the hardware workings available. This would allow someone to write GPL firmware.

You're being stupid. Even though that would be a good thing, if you would RTFA, that isn't what this is about. OpenBSD wants _freely distributable_ firmware, _not_ source code or anything else related to the firmware architecture.

So, that sounds more reasonable. What could keep Intel from doing this?

Third party patent licenses restricting free distribution
Third party software licenses restricting free distribution on the derived binary code
Fear of hardware cloners "dropping in" the firmware and selling a knockoff product
etc...

In short, there are a myriad of reasons why Intel would say no. If this is a problem for you, reverse the hardware and produce a free firmware, or make noise && vote with your feet.

Score:4, Insightful