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Purism
2017.12.11
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Last week I purchased a Purism 13 and a X200 flashed with Libreboot.
I've been using a MacBook Pro for some time now and it has been a
real struggle for me: on one side, I really enjoy how "everything
just works" and how well graphics look (font rendering, colors, hidpi
displays); on the other hand, OSX and the machine firmware are not
free or open source software.
I disagree with free software activists a lot of the time, specially
with the extreme focus given exclusively to software but not so much
on privacy, data protection and decentralization of services (unless
using these as selling points) - but let's leave that for another
entry. But one thing the free software and open software movements
get right is the right one should have to read and modify the
software running on one's machine.
And not having the right to do this with the MacBook Pro is really
bothering me. To the point I was considering moving to another
machine. The recent Intel ME security issues were the straws that
broke the camel's back, so I decided to buy a different machine,
running Libreboot or Coreboot instead of proprietary firmware, and
move to OpenBSD or Linux.
I've always been a fan of Lenovo machines, but the recent Lenovo
security issues and compatibility with Libre/Coreboot were blockers.
So I decided to buy a Lenovo X200 with Libreboot (I had one of these
machines in the past, but donated it) and a Purism 13. My plan is to
test both machines and try to satisfy this internal struggle I have
with running non-free software and firmware.
.
