Wow?

What about ROM's in the real sense of the word (i.e. one's that CAN'T be changed)? If the software CAN'T be changed, what use is the source? And the companies are not under ANY obligation to release ANYTHING if the binary blob is indeed proprietry. But if someone wants to write a GPL driver, then it (may be) impossible to distribute the binary blob alongside the driver.

The difference is in what's required for operation. A firmware source is not required for operation if it's stored permanently on the card with which it ships. Every card has a version of it, it comes from the factory like that and it may not even be able to be changed. If the company goes bankrupt, you're in no worse a position than before. All hardware has that code loaded and ready to go.

There may be "bugfix" versions of the firmware but the device is essentially another "computer" which your PC is talking to via an established communications standard (i.e. the card's protocol). Knowledge of that firmware's exact innards achieves little at great cost and because it doesn't need to be distributed AT ALL as "software" (except by the manufacturer in the original device), then it doesn't come under legal problems.

However, to RUN a card which does *not* have permanent firmware storage, then you have to have the firmware blob and the firmware blob is a required part of the driver code, no matter what the OS is. Because the blob is part of the code, that brings it into the murky realm of "merging binary blob with GPL driver code" (nobody's quite sure if it's allowed or not, but there haven't been any complaints yet). That's the problem, the solutions to which are:

1) There can be no legal GPL driver.
2) The company releases the source code to the blob under the GPL and a full GPL driver is released.

The legal definitions would be mind-boggling. Is my USB stick a "computer" because it contains a chip capable of performing operations on a private memory area? Is a PIC chip? Is hard-coded logic? Does this communication with a computer device consitute or require distribution of software code? Is that use legal under trade laws (i.e. can you sell hardware that is dependent on YOUR firmware code to operate and then forbid use of YOUR code to person X for reason Y? Are you required to let other people produce their own firmware code etc.)?

It's an absolute minefield, which is why the more that is GPL'd or licensed under even "more free" licenses, the better. However, there has to be a realistic limit or you're into "I want source code for your son and daughter too" territory and all co-operation halts.

Firmware would be great to have open-sourced but if I don't have the facility to use it at all (it's burned into a ROM) or I don't need to ever change it, I *personally* don't care about the source code for it. It's much easier than the hardware equivalent of soft-modems - where having to have a firmware blob (or other proprietry, non-distributed software) downloaded to the device every time I use it, the possibility of uploading the wrong firmware, the possibility of trashing the hardware with a faulty upload, the possibility of that being the only firmware EVER that operates the device because the company goes bust etc.

A GPL-only *driver* that can run on all OS is the ultimate goal for most people. That means not having to distribute other people's code (e.g. blobs, layers and protocols) but being able to control every visible part of the device. Anything past that is a bonus.