[Arm-netbook] CC3000 Wi-Fi for MCU

[Henrik Nordström]

> What is the gain, though? What is the underlying cause for the objection 
> to firmware blobs? Ignore the ideological rhetoric - why is it 
> _actually_ a problem?

The udedrlying problem is where to draw the line. By having the firmware in rom the device is regarded as purely hardware. If the firmware can be modified then it's software and therefore must be free.

Personally i strongly object to RMS view on this, and consider it harmful to free software, but i do understand his viewpoint. Drawing borders is extremely difficult.

To illustrate how the requirement is harmful to free software look at Rockbox, a compleely free firmware for a huge amount of MP3 players, greatly enjoyed by it's users. This project would not be possible without firmware being changeable.

Firmware blobs opens up for the ability to eventually free the firmware. 

I draw the border slightly different but similar. If the device would function the same with romed firmware as with a firmware blob where the cpu i run my free OS on is only uploading to the device and not executing it in any manner then it's acceptable by aggregation imho.

Regards
Henrik