I am new to the free software community, but one of the things I am most
interested in right now is reverse engineering. As you know, companies
like Intel are unwilling to release schematics which would allow free
software developers to write free microcode for processors. As RMS
pointed out at LibrePlanet recently (2013 I believe) reverse engineering
is a very high-priority project, as computers are becoming more and more
closed and locked down.
RMS mentioned also that, as we now is true, it used to be and still
continues to be that we can promote free software by installing
GNU/Linux on existing machines originally built for proprietary software
(Mac and windows computers, which the vast majority of us use to run
GNU/Linux). Now and in the future it seems more and more that we will
have to tell people to purchase machines that are free from the get-go,
and that really sucks if you ask me. I would like to, having learned
about free software, take my existing PC or Mac and have my friend who
just enlightened me about free software liberate it.
I know nothing about reverse engineering, but there should be plans to
create projects or organizations, clubs, websites, etc. that educate
free software users and hobbyists who are technically talented and interested to
reverse engineer existing hardware that can be used for GNU/Linux.
For example, LibreBoot is a project that could use more volunteers, as
it is pitiful that only a handful of laptops are capable of being
LibreBoot-ed.
What sort of plans are in place to get reverse engineering to be an
important topic for free software developers?