>However, no modern device is “fully open” - no usable computer exists today that has completely open software and hardware (as much as some companies want to market themselves as such)
Doesn't RaptorCS[1] offer a fully open modern device? Or is there a closed part I'm not aware of?
Is their silicon design open? Their internal boot ROM? Their microcode? :-)
What I'm trying to say there is, there is always a line. There is always some secret sauce. Even if you have fully open HDL, you won't have documentation for the proprietary fab processes required to implement it in a way that performs. Even if the fab process were somehow fully open, you may not have public documentation on how to manufacture some of the required chemicals and raw materials available. And so on and so forth. The rabbit hole always goes deeper, and the lines between parts aren't entirely bright, and so making some kind of blanket statement that one is "fully open" is usually a marketing tactic and not actually truthful.
That said, yes, Raptor stuff is pretty much as open as it gets, today, in the high-end space. They are pretty much the only modern platform which doesn't use blobs to train RAM on boot, for example. They are not perfect - for example, their motherboard schematics are only available to owners, so I assume they are not redistributable under an open hardware license.
These alternatives should definitely be taken with a huge grain of salt. I don't see how Discord is the third most "privacy-friendly" alternative to Hangouts that doesn't track you while explicitly claiming they "may" collect your email, messages, images, VOIP data, etc. [1]
I 've experienced the same. I've managed to get specific versions of songs (like "I want you to want me" from Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist series rather than the original one from Cheap Trick) and am very impressed with the tool.
In South America too. In Peru, many mobile phone plans come with free data for WhatsApp, fb and Instagram which makes it way harder for people to even think of changing messaging platforms.
When I was searching for a new laptop, I stumbled upon this comment from a System76 employee that goes into more depth about the work they do on new laptops that seems more than just relabelling Clevo laptops.
On the claim:
>However, no modern device is “fully open” - no usable computer exists today that has completely open software and hardware (as much as some companies want to market themselves as such)
Doesn't RaptorCS[1] offer a fully open modern device? Or is there a closed part I'm not aware of?
[1] https://www.raptorcs.com/