Ubuntu Wiki

Dear Mark, dear Ubuntu developers,

We the undersigned petition you to reconsider your decision of including binary drivers by default in the next Ubuntu release. We believe, as you do, that it should be as easy as possible for end users to enable extra functionality via closed software when necessary and if they so wish, but only after an explicit acknowledgement and only after being informed about the issues at stake and possible alternatives. Users can be given the option to install closed drivers/software during installation or soon after installation or when an application that may require such software is run for the first time. It is a small change, but one that will avoid dividing the community on an issue that many hold dear, without sacrificing ease of use and product appeal. We therefore encourage you to opt for easy-installation as opposed to pre-installation.

Many thanks for your attention,

1. Agostino Russo
2. Onkar Shinde
3. Steven Dilworth
4. Florent Mertens
5. Slava Chemodanov
6. Dan Bishop

7. João Crespo - Why not let the problem of blobs installation up to the [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommonCustomizations common customizations] spec (a GUI somewhere at system » administration or something similar)? is the solution found to all the other non-free stuff instead of bundling with for default or asking the user during the install if he wants flash, codecs, etc....

8. TobySmithe

9. Alon Zakai
10. Volker Löchte
11. Roy Schestowitz
12. Shane Coyle
13. Stian Rødven Eide
14. Mark Grandi - just make it so during installation, tells you about them, and asks you if you want them or not.
15. Mackenzie Morgan

16. Stuart McNeill

17. Dustin Widmann
18. Tareeq Ali
19. Andrew Poelstra

20. FirdausAziz

21. Matthew Flaschen
22. Terry Harrison
23. Ali Davoodifar
24. Albert van Aardt
25. Jeffrey Parke
26. Chris Warburton
27. David Nielsen - First it was wifi, then it was graphics. What freedom and supportability is going to fall at the hand of temporary highly limited functionality next? Instead of doing this we should fund and support work towards bridging the functionality gap with free drivers.
28. Lloyd Almeida
29. Guy Johnston - I only use GNU/Linux and other free software for the freedom it allows me. My next installation is likely to be gNewSense. If this increase in installing proprietary software by default continues, it definitely will be, and I won't use Ubuntu or any of its official variants again.
30. James Buchanan
31. Paulo Gomes

32. Matthias Lehr - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

33. Lutz Reinhardt

34. Saul Goode - It is contrary to the philosophy espoused in http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/philosophy

35. Holger Bauer
36. Jan Rathmann
37. Gregor Geiermann
38. Tim Pretz
39. Frederik Tuczek
40. Norbert Fabritius
41. Anke Kernbach
42. Marc Hildebrandt
43. Alexander Menk
44. Marcus Fihlon
45. Maxim Lapis
46. Sebastian Kotowski

47. Xinchi Yu - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

48. Michael Kehraus
49. Rüdiger Dick -Duisburger Linux User Group ( www.dulug.de )
50. Amir Hadi
51. Chris Lees
52. Thorsten Tasch
53. Dimitri Vorona (aka Alendit)
54. Christian Schoch
55. Søren Schneider
56. Simon Schlosser

57. Matthias Mailänder - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

58. Clemens Blank - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

59. David Becher
60. Sven Jaborek, people who want blobby linux should go to novell

61. Andreas Gutowski - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

62. Roberto Amato - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

63. Simon Bürger

64. Bernhard Hanakam - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/ - Please give the user the opportunity to choose, because this is what linux is. A GUI is IMHO a good solution, but the closed drivers should stay in restricted, not in the default installation. Mark and all the others: don't let ubuntu become some stuff like SuSE. Keep thinking of bug #1!

65. Ueli Zahnd
66. Andreas Schmauss

67. Richard Hirner - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/ - I have installed and recommended Ubuntu Linux to many people, but I won't support another "Lindows"

68. Oliver Gellner
69. Martin Gräßlin - Why don't you try to persuade the companies to change their closed source drivers to open source? That would be the best for the users.
70. David Fu - maybe gNewSense does make sense after all.
71. Carsten Schmidt

72. AndreasGnau - The user has to be informed about both the advantages and disadvantages.

73. Marco Hunseler - Please, dont do that :-\
74. Gaurav Mishra - this will forget the real ubuntu spirit and will be followed by the commercial market requirements ,
75. Hendrik Thaer

76. Dieter Komendera - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

77. Mitja Kleider
78. Matt Medland

79. IanDarwin - Every single time you install a binary blob driver, you convince some big company that "open source" just doesn't matter. Is that what you want to do?

80. Christian Wagner - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

81. [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DavidTangye David Tangye] - In addition I also support (see http://boycottnovell.com/category/ubuntu/ "12.23.06 Ubuntu No Blobs By Default Petition"): "put a button that sends an email to the detected hardware vendor complaining about this extra step. Then, vendors will see just how many customers it does affect and act; by Ubuntu doing it for the end user without interaction, there will be no market backlash or incentive to open up."

82. Frederik Elwert
83. Marian Sigler
84. Björn Kunze
85. Gustav Andréasson
86. Marcel Miebach
87. Jussi Kukkonen
88. Heinrich Franz
89. Simon Streit

90. Christian Niemeyer - via http://www.ubuntuusers.de/ikhaya/354/

91. [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Attitude Ivan Jelic]

92. [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ivanpetrovic Ivan Petrović]

93. MilanPrvulovic

94. [http://fn.goa-india.org Frederick "FN" Noronha, Goa, India]

95. Bartosz Bogacz - please don't forget that many of us are using linux because its open-source and not because its better or free
96. Tom H - I am in favour of a program installed by default which presents the user with information on binary blobs and asks whether he/she wishes to install them.
97. Matias Särs
98. Dustin Sandell - In favor of original install offering a choice about installing binary blobs once. (Not repeatedly.)