> unless they force or persuade other people to use non-free software as well
I hope this isn't a reference to the raspberry pi firmware. If you are talking about this firmware [0], it boots Linux since the 3rd of Jan 2017. I do not follow the developments closely, but I hardly think that this is something that can be recommended to a "non technical user", but maybe you have a different opinion. In any case if I recommend non-free firmware over a free counter part it is most likely because I'm not aware that there is a usable alternative. In this particular case I have not tried the firmware itself, and in any case - bringing up a device with the existing stable firmware is a prerequisite for further experimentation. But you are right, I did not ask the user if he was ok with using the raspberry pi exclusively over a uart cable without usb, ethernet or video. [0] https://github.com/christinaa/rpi-open-firmware/commit/34db573a45a03c9ba1bd11788a6cbaf5507faa53
