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ZDNET's key takeaways
No one has managed to make a fully free software smartphone.
Open-source and free software projects have had limited success.
The problem is proprietary tech with no public documentation.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has unveiled a new initiative called LibrePhone, with the ambitious goal of a completely free software smartphone ecosystem. Good luck with that, because this aim is not -- in any way, shape, or form -- an easy thing to achieve.
Zoë Kooyman, the FSF's executive director, acknowledged this fact, saying, "Given the complexity of the devices, this work will take time, but we're used to playing the long game."
Also: 10 open-source Windows apps I can't live without - and they're all free
Project LibrePhone wants to remove all proprietary code from mobile devices. That code includes firmware, drivers, and the binary "blobs" that phones must have to operate.
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