Where Debian is really used... erasing the non-free software wouldn't be that
big of a deal. Most of your distributions based on Debian (like Ubuntu) end
up with a different kernel and patches anyway. They aren't basing it off
strict Debian.
That said though I think given Debian's status as the distribution all others
are derived from it does make for a good argument when trying to get
companies to cooperate in releasing non-free firmware.
Debian has already made this part easier. They didn't include non-free
firmware in the last release. Although they could have done us a favour by
including the free firmware (for the Atheros AR9170 Wireless N chipset).
