4 ms·

The FSF didn’t choose the price, Purism did, because they’ve paid professionals to develop their software, without which the Pinephone might not have existed —

The FSF didn’t choose the price, Purism did, because they’ve paid professionals to develop their software, without which the Pinephone might not have existed — all previous editions of it shipped with phosh (except Braveheart, which came with only factory testing software IIRC).

Fnoord 6y ago
Of course FSF doesn't set the price, that's a red herring. They can endorse whatever they wish though, that's by choice. Pinephone would've absolutely existed if Purism did not exist because the innovation lies in the usage of FOSS hardware, not so much in UI. Pinephone ships with 13 OSes which all work, and various of these OSes were already in development before Librem 5 was announced. I know this, because I followed some of these OSes since they were born. Android, SailfishOS (successor of Maemo/Moblin/MeeGo), Maemo Leste, postmarketOS, KDE Mobile, Ubuntu Touch, KaiOS, and a whole lot more. In fact, I ran Qtopia on a Sharp Zaurus almost 20 years ago before Nokia invested in mobile Gtk+ / Qt based UIs. Which was a decent UI, considering resistive screens (the world opted for capacative which has an impact on UI choices). Furthermore, many of the cloud services Purism / Librem 5 announced are mere rebrands. I applaud Librem 5 for being FOSS software and FOSS firmware, but I feel Pinephone and Fairphone both make an important achievement as well (one being affordable for the masses who don't like in say Mass. USA, the other one for being more fair for workers, environment, and longevity (Fairphone were one of first to provide long-term Android support)). Both of which ideals are very much in line with Stallman's philosophies.
- fsflover 6y ago
  > They can endorse whatever they wish though, that's by choice. This is just not true. They endorse whatever aligns with their goals, which did not change since 1985: https://ryf.fsf.org/ https://ryf.fsf.org/. The corresponding price is not their fault, but the fault of current economics (where it's more economical to restrict users' freedom). > Pinephone ships with 13 OSes which all work, and various of these OSes were already in development before Librem 5 was announced. This is true, but currently most of these OS decided that Phosh is the best environment for good reasons: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#39-why-did-purism-decide-to-create-the-new-phosh-interface https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque.... > but I feel Pinephone and Fairphone both make an important achievement as well Not one argues with that. However we also need to go further towards the freedom, so we also need Purism. Hopefully at some point those three companies collaborate to create perfectly free, sustainable, cheap smartphone... Or at least the competition between them can lead us there.

Fnoord 6y ago

Of course FSF doesn't set the price, that's a red herring. They can endorse whatever they wish though, that's by choice. Pinephone would've absolutely existed if Purism did not exist because the innovation lies in the usage of FOSS hardware, not so much in UI. Pinephone ships with 13 OSes which all work, and various of these OSes were already in development before Librem 5 was announced. I know this, because I followed some of these OSes since they were born. Android, SailfishOS (successor of Maemo/Moblin/MeeGo), Maemo Leste, postmarketOS, KDE Mobile, Ubuntu Touch, KaiOS, and a whole lot more. In fact, I ran Qtopia on a Sharp Zaurus almost 20 years ago before Nokia invested in mobile Gtk+ / Qt based UIs. Which was a decent UI, considering resistive screens (the world opted for capacative which has an impact on UI choices). Furthermore, many of the cloud services Purism / Librem 5 announced are mere rebrands. I applaud Librem 5 for being FOSS software and FOSS firmware, but I feel Pinephone and Fairphone both make an important achievement as well (one being affordable for the masses who don't like in say Mass. USA, the other one for being more fair for workers, environment, and longevity (Fairphone were one of first to provide long-term Android support)). Both of which ideals are very much in line with Stallman's philosophies.

fsflover 6y ago
> They can endorse whatever they wish though, that's by choice. This is just not true. They endorse whatever aligns with their goals, which did not change since 1985: https://ryf.fsf.org/ https://ryf.fsf.org/. The corresponding price is not their fault, but the fault of current economics (where it's more economical to restrict users' freedom). > Pinephone ships with 13 OSes which all work, and various of these OSes were already in development before Librem 5 was announced. This is true, but currently most of these OS decided that Phosh is the best environment for good reasons: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#39-why-did-purism-decide-to-create-the-new-phosh-interface https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque.... > but I feel Pinephone and Fairphone both make an important achievement as well Not one argues with that. However we also need to go further towards the freedom, so we also need Purism. Hopefully at some point those three companies collaborate to create perfectly free, sustainable, cheap smartphone... Or at least the competition between them can lead us there.