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1. Bob Mottram (bob@social.freedombone.net)'s status on Thursday, 13-Apr-2017 15:12:21 UTC Bob Mottram
   Ubuntu's bug no.1 remains unpatched.
   
   It goes as follows:
   
   Non-free software leaves users at the mercy of the software owner and concentrates control over the technology which powers our society into the hands of a few. Additionally, proprietary software stifles innovation, maintains artificial scarcities, and enables malicious anti-features such as DRM, surveillance, and other monopolistic practices.
   
   This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
   
   Steps to repeat:
   
   # Visit a local PC store. # Attempt to buy a machine without any proprietary software.
   
   What happens:
   
   Almost always, a majority of PCs for sale have Microsoft Windows pre-installed. In the rare cases that they come with a GNU/Linux operating system or no operating system at all, the drivers and BIOS may be proprietary.
   
   What should happen:
   
   A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software.
   • Bob Mottram (bob@social.freedombone.net)'s status on Thursday, 13-Apr-2017 15:25:17 UTC Bob Mottram

     • peter
     @peter a year or so ago I bought my first laptop with Trisquel preinstalled and where everything just worked. But sadly that wasn't from an ordinary store or any of the mainstream retailers. Only a tiny tiny minority of specialist retailers are making any progress at all on Ubuntu's bug no.1
   • Bob Mottram (bob@social.freedombone.net)'s status on Thursday, 13-Apr-2017 15:38:40 UTC Bob Mottram

     • jeffcliff
     @jeffcliff electrical stores mostly. When I was in Manchester there were various places that sold laptops, new or second hand. Pretty much without exception they were either running Windows or were Macs.
     
     Even if you consider phones and tablets to be the new PCs while Android has the majority share it doesn't fulfill the criteria for solving bug no.1
   • Bob Mottram (bob@social.freedombone.net)'s status on Thursday, 13-Apr-2017 15:48:30 UTC Bob Mottram

     • jeffcliff
     @jeffcliff as far as I know there is no Android phone which ships with only Free Software. If there were I'd be interested to know what it was. The Android phones I've encountered came with a tonne of proprietary stuff and all had proprietary drivers.
   • Bob Mottram (bob@social.freedombone.net)'s status on Thursday, 13-Apr-2017 15:49:43 UTC Bob Mottram

     in reply to

     • jeffcliff
     @jeffcliff if you only replace one bunch of proprietary stuff with another, no progress has been made towards fixing bug no.1
   • Bob Mottram (bob@social.freedombone.net)'s status on Thursday, 13-Apr-2017 17:37:39 UTC Bob Mottram

     • simsa01
     @simsa01 it's true that all of the usual suspects use FOSS because it gives them control over their own systems, but it's not a driver of centralization per se.
     
     Centralization is about not just the desire to be in control of your own stuff but to be in control of other people's stuff also, whether they want that or not.