Q: What guarantee do we have that these binary blobs don't contain root kits? A: None.
This really isn't acceptable.
Would you feel better if the CPU/GPU came with the firmware preloaded? I agree that it's not ideal but the code is not loaded into the kernel, it's loaded into the hardware by the kernel.
It, and everything else, are worth exactly what people are willing to pay for them.
Of course, but I wasn't questioning that it was worth that amount of money. I asked why.
Try and find a new computer with Windows 7 installed. There aren't many. I'm not even sure if the big names still offer the "downgrade".
Microsoft allows you to downgrade all copies of Windows 8.1 Pro to either Windows Vista Business or Windows 7 Professional. That is provided by Microsoft, it's not up to the OEM.
What if I don't want to?
It's a suboptimal choice of words. You're still allowed even if you don't want it.
XFS isn't newer than ext4.
Depends on how you look at. XFS is continuously developed and improved, they just don't stick a version number after it like the ext developers.
PostgreSQL has had PL/R since 2003.
Which is nice but doesn't really do anything for you if you're not using PostgreSQL, for example those using SQL Server.
Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. -- Mt.