Post Syndicated from original https://lwn.net/Articles/884876/

People are attracted to free software for a number of reasons, including
price, overall quality, community support, and available features. But,
for many of us, the
value of free software is to be found in its ability to allow us to
actually own and maintain control over our systems. Antifeatures in free
software tend
not to last long, and free drivers can often unlock capabilities of the
hardware that its vendors may not have seen fit to make available. Intel’s
upcoming “software defined silicon” (SDSi) mechanism may reduce that control,
though, by taking away access to hardware features from anybody who has not
paid the requisite fees.