Non-opensource drivers

[Henrik Nilsen Omma]

Colin Watson wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 25, 2006 at 03:36:12PM +0100, Soren Hansen wrote:
>   
>>
>> So the non-free drivers will be the default with an opt-out option under
>> the "Advanced options" or the other way around?
>>     
>
> At present, the accelerated-x specification calls for it to be the
> default. I don't especially like the idea, but it isn't my call. 


I agree with Colin that we should not include non-free drivers by 
default. (I am also a Canonical employee, but the opinions expressed 
here are solely my own, etc. And likewise it's not my call). I've been 
thinking a bit about how we might do that in an elegant way.

I suggest we are very up front about it and present it professionally to 
the user. We make it a feature :) We make the 'free drivers by default' 
AND the 'simple availability of desktop acceleration' major selling 
points of the next release. Both to the community and to the end users.

When the user first boots the system we pop up a window with the 
following message:

“Your display driver is not optimally configured to work with your 
display card. Click here for more information. ”

You are then given some options.
[Ignore – continue with the current setup]
[Just fix it - Install additional drivers]
[More information – See what you are missing and why]

Installing the drivers should be very easy – Obviously. We can even ship 
them on the CD so there is no need for an internet connection. This is 
still very different from installing them by default because it gives 
the user a choice and it uses the opportunity to educate. If done 
properly it will still only take 2 minutes to configure and will be 
painless. It should be a much more pleasant experience than searching 
the net or your CD collection for the right graphics driver for Windows.

The More info option could be accompanied by an animated gif giving a 
taster of the desktop effects. It would be quite difficult to resist 
clicking on it ...

Doing so would bring up a new window with an embedded video showing all 
the Beryl/Compiz coolness and providing more information. It needs to be 
*very* slick though. This is not just a simple feature demo it is a 
marketing opportunity for desktop effects, free software principles and 
Ubuntu all rolled up into one.

We should run a contest to have made the best Beryl/Compiz screen casts. 
There are already a ton of these on YouTube so the expertise is clearly 
out there. But we should challenge the community to make high quality 
versions (which must be updated just before release to contain the 
latest artwork). In addition to that there needs to be a story board 
charting how to present the additional information and ensuring that it 
all flows smoothly. This is no longer just about showing off desktop 
coolness but also about putting across a message. The textual 
information and voice-over (or music?) needs to be added professionally. 
We have experience with this from the about-ubuntu video.


The points we can present to the user are quite simple and strong:

* Ubuntu is built on Free Software – Why this is good now and for the 
future.
* A comparison with Vista -- MS vista also has some level of hardware 
acceleration for its desktop on certain selected systems. The difference 
is that selection criteria is not freedom but money: First you need to 
have a powerful and secondly it only comes with the more expensive 
editions of Vista. Ubuntu is free and lets you choose what software you 
wish to use with it.
* It's easy to install – Just click ...

If made professionally I don't think this will irritate the users who 
will soon also be faced with Widows Genuine Advantage. Even if a Windows 
activation procedure is successful most users will walk away from it 
with a bad taste in their mouth. MS regards them as dishonest by 
default. With Ubuntu on the other hand you are given a completely free 
choice of what to install and given the honest information about the 
background. Users will see the difference in the approaches and will 
appreciate it.


Letter campaign button

After the presentation has been made, the user should be presented with 
a few additional options. Again, you can simply install the proprietary 
drivers and move on, or install additional drivers with a click. 
Additionally you get an option to write a letter of 
complaint/encouragement to Nvidia or ATI. Clicking takes you to a 
web-page where you can add your signature, send an email or download an 
OpenOffice file of a pre-written letter to the relevant graphics card 
maker.

It should be available in the user's native language. Just the community 
effort of translating these and the subsequent work required by the 
recipients to translate them back (if they do that – from experience 
with Amnesty governments and companies actually do this) would create 
quite a bit of buzz around the issue. What better way to measure the 
number of user who are using Ubuntu and would like Nvidia/ATI to cater 
better for them than in metric tons of paper!


Basically, If we go with free drivers by default though we could beat on 
the big drums about it. From the community POV we will have done the 
right thing and regarding the end users we can justify presenting it 
up-front and centre because (a) it's a major new feature (b) their 
involvement is required to activate it and (c) we are educating them.

We could even let the Live CD run with non-free drivers by default and 
ask the user to confirm that choice before installing it with Ubiquity. 
Letting the user run non-free drivers on the Live CD is less bad than 
installing them. And even that (Live CD use) is greatly mitigated by 
being up-front and educational about it IMO.

There is non-free software in the world and we have to live with that 
fact. The question is not whether we put it on a server or a CD but 
whether we are trying to push the world in the right direction or not.

Henrik