I did this a long time ago when I first learned of the vrms package, which stands for Virtual Richard M. Stallman. What it does is it looks through the install packages on your system and tests to see if they are in fact free software or not. If they aren’t, well Richard lets you know and lists them out for you. I ran it just a few minutes ago, and like the others I have seen thus far, I had a bunch of garbage for ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards, of which neither I use. So I promptly removed those as well as unrar and linux-restricted-modules. I don’t use, let alone have use, for these packages, so I think I made Richard a bit happier. Here is what my output currently looks like:

<<< nixternal@ShakaDoobie :: ~ :: 11:15.03 Thu Sep 10 2009
>>> [1004] vrms
            Non-free packages installed on ShakaDoobie
 
opera                     The Opera Web Browser
sun-java6-bin             Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 (architecture
sun-java6-jdk             Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 6
sun-java6-jre             Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 (architecture
sun-java6-plugin          The Java(TM) Plug-in, Java SE 6
 
             Contrib packages installed on ShakaDoobie
 
flashplugin-installer     Adobe Flash Player plugin installer
flashplugin-nonfree       Adobe Flash Player plugin installer (transitional pack
ttf-mscorefonts-installer Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
 
  5 non-free packages, 0.3% of 1854 installed packages.
  3 contrib packages, 0.2% of 1854 installed packages.

So, for Richard’s sake, let me explain my flaws. I have Opera installed because…Well I really have no clue, but since they released a Qt4 based version, I had to give it a try. It isn’t to shabby, but I get varrying results with it. I do think it is a really great browser, and do at times test web sites I am working on with it. The Java stuff, well I did, and still do at times, work on Java code, plus for everything Java I do, it works, whereas Icedtea doesn’t. Flash, I cannot live without my YouTube and other video sites that require Flash. The MS Fonts, well I think that is installed with the kubuntu-restricted-extras package, and really don’t have a use for them at all. Though it does make looking at some sites better than if I didn’t have them installed.

Of course I could use the free alternatives, and I do. However I need stuff that “works for me™”. I used to be a free software nut and still am to an extent, however I realize that right now our free software alternatives aren’t yet where they need to be, and in the mean time I will use stuff that works.