[B Knotts]

Stallman is indeed a bit of an extremist, but he's right about the necessity of open source BIOS and open hardware archetecture. Without that, Linux and other open source OSs may have a shrinking universe of compatible hardware, because as hardware makers embed "secure" technology in the BIOS, it will become harder and harder to stay compatible.

[Paridel]

and open hardware archetecture

I'm confused about what you mean here?

Most of our hardware architecture is open, in the sense that all the interfaces to the hardware are widely published and known.

Put another way: Most hardware is open in the black box model, that is as long as the interface is open it doesn't matter how it is implemented.

The only reason to get details on the implementation is if you want to rip it off.

I am involved in developing hardware (among other things) so if I'm missing something please let me know, while I'm certainly not someone who could make a difference I'm certainly interested in this allegation that I'm restricting peoples freedom somehow.

-paridel