I find this whole agenda hypocritic. Either adhere to it fully before you go on preaching about it or stop preaching it. Why isn't Ubuntu or Gentoo or <insert any other distro here> on GNU's list if it doesn't ship with non-free software by default? And if Novell is evil for making a business deal, why isn't Ubuntu evil for providing such a user-friendly access to non-free software?
That is an TOO extreme a statement.
AFAIK even the GNU project used proprietary tools/apps when no free equivalent existed. It would have been a great blunder not to do so and if they had abandoned the project then just because of that reason we probably would not be having this conversation right now. Their approach instead was to use the non free software, while parallely creating free equivalents. Later on other people followed suit and the result is we have a much better world today than what would have been otherwise.
Ubuntu does package some non free drivers, but its creator also funds the creation of free drivers and is also a strong proponent of the same. It would be absolutely wonderful when those drivers are ready and become part of not just Ubuntu but of the entire distro Universe :-)
As far as Novell goes their deal gives M$ the power to sue Free Software developers and bring their work to a grinding halt - how can you compare the two?
Regards,
- vihan