Linked by Robert Trembath on Wed 18th Feb 2004 01:29 UTC
Couldn't stop myself from trying the new Fedora 2-test1 release, even if it is an alpha! The 2.6 kernel, KDE 3.2 and Gnome 2.5 all in the same release was just to much candy to turn away from; too bad it's more sour rather than sweet at this (beta) point than I would have expected.
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From what I've gleaned from the discussion, Red Hat will not distribute any package that does not provide source code under a GPL-compatible license and may have any possible patent infringement issues. This just makes sense. They are probably the most highly visible champion of the open source model. They just want to reduce their exposure exposure to lawsuits, frivolous or otherwise.
In the case of proprietary graphics drivers, distros that are targeted at non-technical users can redistribute, at least the nvidia drivers. From nvidias license:
2.1.2 Linux Exception. Notwithstanding the foregoing terms of Section 2.1.1, SOFTWARE designed exclusively for use on the Linux operating system may be copied and redistributed, provided that the binary files thereof are not modified in any way (except for unzipping of compressed files).
So there you go. It's all a matter of Red Hat's political stance and a little pragmatism. If this doesn't fit your willingness or ability to do it yourself, there are other distros out there, as others have pointed out. I think it's safe to say that you will never see ati or nvidia drivers in a Red Hat/Fedora distro. Unless Red Hat could buy one of them and open source the chip design. A chip design is software, isn't it?