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On 01/29/2017 01:28 PM, Marshall Dawson wrote:
I agree with Martin's assessment. I'll elaborate that the suppliers are simply delivering what their revenue generators ask for. Those are overwhelmingly ODMs and OEMs who demand that solutions be provided to them, not Swiss Army knives or DIY kits. That's why suppliers design software that runs on MEs, IMCs, PSPs, sideband controllers, etc. Customers rarely care about what a product could do; they want to know what it does.
I'll also add that there is are actually two markets for people that care about building something to execute a task that the OEM didn't know about. The problem is you're really looking at very low end (embedded, where the processor is not the primary solution, only part of the overall system) and very high end (where a good chunk of your trade secrets may revolve around how you're using the machine and what you quietly stuck onto it without the OEM's knowledge).
There is absolutely no reason for anyone to use mid range computing systems in these type of roles. This primarily is a factor of cost; on the embedded side you can't justify using a more powerful / complex processor with more to go wrong than what you actually need, and on the high end the investment in developing the secret IP dwarfs the cost of the machines themselves. Therefore, I assert that market forces dictate libre firmware (and possibly certain classes of libre software) will not be available for mid range general purpose computing systems barring a massive shift in semiconductor manufacturing.
The only argument one could theoretically make is security, but again this applies moreso to large organizations that are going to be using very specific types of machines and are going to be willing to pay more for the secure computers. There is no benefit to an average Joe (Windows user, uploads all their data to Facebook, likes to torrent movies and games, etc.) to have their firmware secured. When something goes wrong enough that they can't use their PC, they'll just wipe, reload, and continue on. Even if an APT embedded itself in their firmware they won't be aware of it or experience any sensible financial loss from the situation -- just look at the IoT hack last year for a good example. Did any of the "owners" of the hacked IoT devices receive a fine for their role, or lose access to the device? No. So why would average Joe care one bit about security, and why would the OEMs creating hardware for average Joe pay more for securable systems?
I hate to say it, but libre software is now the domain of those who just want to connect to cloud services or retrocompute, and those organizations with large enough budgets and valuable enough IP to justify the extra cost. It's not a matter of the OEMs being evil, it's a matter of the market adjusting to meet the demands of the 95% at the expense of the 5%, even if the 5% were heavily contributing to society as a whole.
- -- Timothy Pearson Raptor Engineering +1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line) +1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard) https://www.raptorengineering.com
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Timothy Pearson