ml> If you want to get these things made free, put out a call for ml> help on the website,
That is why we asked the Fellows who wants to help freeing these devices, for they are not yet entirely free. So several people, you included, have applied to get the device to free it entirely, so that in the future these might become entirely free devices.
And that is by distributing immoral and unethical software? Has the FSF _ever_ distributed copies of non-free software to its members in the hope that someone will write a free replacement? No. Why? Because distributing non-free software to people is _wrong_, no matter what the reason is.
You simply do not know if these people will write free replacements or not. You cannot know.
ml> I can't get my ATI card to work with free drivers, so is the ml> FSFE going to recommend I use proprietary drivers?
No.
Why not? It is exactly the same situation.
ml> If I ask the FSFE Fellowship which is a good PDA, am I going ml> to be told to buy an N800 because it's almost free software?
No.
That is exactly what people are being told right now with the FSFE distributing this device to fellows.
We would tell you that no PDA is good enough today, but that it would be very important to have one that runs only Free Software.
This raffle shows otherwise.