[duckerude]

That's something of a recurring issue with the philosophy. They also think that moving proprietary firmware into read-only memory is an acceptable solution, but I don't really understand why from a consequentialist point of view.

[cycloptic]

The issue is that usually the manufacturer builds in capabilities to update the firmware, and then reserves for themselves the ability to modify and update that firmware, while intentionally denying that ability to the users. This puts the manufacturer in a position of power over people who use the product.

But if the firmware isn't modifiable by anybody (including the manufacturer) because the capability to update it was never built in the first place, then no capabilities are being withheld from the users of that product.

[toast0]

I don't know that I have a strong opinion on firmware, but I think there's a few points.

Distribution rights are a lot clearer with firmware on the device and a driver in code.

With firmware on the card, the interface between the kernel and the card is likely to be more well defined and thus easier to replace either side.