"The idea behind compiling freedom-friendly databases is to allow consumers
to make smart choices"
Is it though? I don't think it is.
I agree with you that in theory it should be a good thing. In practice I
don't think it is. It's not reliable enough for the masses to use and I don't
think it ever could be. It is more of a stumbling block.
I think a program to certify hardware like what the Free Software Foundation
is doing is a better approach. Now I will point out that the Free Software
Foundation is in support of both projects. I however I am not convinced
h-node or any database for "Linux hardware" is a good thing to promote. At
least not which includes hardware that may or may not work (as all of these
databases include and by design can't avoid).
From my experience (years and years and years of it) these databases are
neither beneficial to the user nor are contributing to an increase in the
demand for GNU/Linux hardware or free software friendly hardware. If anything
I think it reduces the number of users as users end up finding it hard or
impossible to work for them.
For better or worse it probably doesn't matter much so long as the easiest
and fastest route is more prominent than the databases.
