Why is Purism developing PureOS?

Bob1 · February 8, 2017, 3:19pm

There are a few things about Purism that are perplexing to me. PureOS is one of them. I never understood why Purism is developing its own operating system. There are already plenty of excellent operating systems available - Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, Qubes, etc. I imagine that most potential Purism laptop customers are already satisfied with an existing OS. They just want a machine that respects their freedom more than what they have now.

If the primary goal of Purism is to produce a laptop that is as free and open source as possible, then why spend spend your precious, limited resources making an OS? I can understand a large company like Apple, Microsoft, or Google trying to handle both the hardware and the software, but for a tiny company like Purism, it doesn’t make much sense. It seems like it would make more sense to focus all your efforts on one product that differentiates you from your competitors. The Librem laptop is this product.

I am eager to receive my Purism laptop, but I think I can speak for a lot of customers here. We would much rather have a laptop with fewer delays and backorders, better build quality and refinement, a better display, better Coreboot support, etc. than yet another gnu/linux distribution.

What is the reasoning behind spending your resources on things like PureOS?

francois-techene · February 8, 2017, 3:53pm

Hi Bob!

First of all, we are not “developing” an OS like Google, Microsoft or Apple would do. PureOS is actually Debian Stretch with our own set of pre-installed apps. We have setup an infrastructure for the software and update management but most of the work is done by the community. We just contribute in return by trying to fill the gap between freedom and the average user’s expectations.

We want an OS that is certified by the FSF as well as being rock solid, cutting edge and user friendly. We are not fully convinced by the existing FSF certified distributions in regard of filling this gap, and we love Debian for what it is. Debian is actually fully free but because of some specific requirements from the FSF, that are not related to the code, Debian cannot be certified.

It is why, we are making our own flavor of Debian Stretch to be certified and pre-loaded with software chosen with a focus on privacy, security and usability. The certification is currently in progress and we are awaiting an answer from the FSF pretty soon.

Don’t worry, most of our technical resources are spent on the Librems’ hardware and free software full compatibility. Coreboot being a big part of this work.