In my opinion, Framework is more ethical that most in the industry. Think companies like Apple, HP, Dell, etc. who are generally quite anti-consumer. For example, Apple’s parts pairing and closed ecosystem, HP’s lockdown of their printers. There are plenty of more examples to look for, turns out humongous for-profit corporations driven by money like money go up more than happy consumers.
Whether Framework “ethical” outright I’m not sure. They support right-to-repair and interact with the community more. They share CAD files of their products so that people can make their own accessories and such, they are working with many Linux distros to improve compatibility, etc. I personally find the backwards compatibility of parts of their devices really impressive. So definitely, more ethical than most.
However, they, like a majority of companies, are not focused on improving working conditions in factories, they are not necessarily using fair materials, etc. Additionally, the support of Omarchy is problematic. In a nutshell, Omarchy is pretty much a preconfigured Arch that DHH likes. The controversy is that this DHH is an insane alt-right guy, anti-immigrant, transphobic, homophobic, white supremecist, all that. The direct support (particularly on social media) of Omarchy is seen as an endorsement of DHH, when you go to Omarchy’s website, DHH’s name is right there. This obviously isn’t a good look for Framework, and they hammered in the idea that they are a “big tent”, implying that they are okay with DHH’s views. Point have also been made that Omarchy is a very new distribution with a small userbase.
Note that Framework is not currently sponsoring Omarchy: https://frame.work/blog/framework-sponsorships (I am unsure whether they originally did, or if was just the social media promotion)
Other companies support their own fair share of far-right lunatics, but that doesn’t make it ethical for Framework to do so of course.
edit:
TLDR: Framework is not ethical, but I would say it’s more ethical than other companies due to their support for right-to-repair, interaction with the community, and transparency on their sponsorships. It’s not a nice world out there, but Framework is one of the better ones.
That is true, I did not check that! At least Rails World isn’t a solo project by DHH like Omarchy is, so much of the proceeds are not going towards DHH (but of course, some of it is unfortunately). It looks like Framework is sponsoring the event in part to secure a booth to showcase their devices and such.
I read another comment somewhere that pointed out that all of the other things they sponsor are much more relevant to them, e.g OS and hardware projects and events. It’s weird that there’s just the one that’s focused on web development and it’s the one run by DHH.
I have nothing more to add other than that I believe it’s good that Framework has been transparent with their sponsorships. Compare this to other companies where there are all sorts of secret deals that are hidden under the rug.
In my opinion, Framework is more ethical that most in the industry. Think companies like Apple, HP, Dell, etc. who are generally quite anti-consumer. For example, Apple’s parts pairing and closed ecosystem, HP’s lockdown of their printers. There are plenty of more examples to look for, turns out humongous for-profit corporations driven by money like money go up more than happy consumers.
Whether Framework “ethical” outright I’m not sure. They support right-to-repair and interact with the community more. They share CAD files of their products so that people can make their own accessories and such, they are working with many Linux distros to improve compatibility, etc. I personally find the backwards compatibility of parts of their devices really impressive. So definitely, more ethical than most.
However, they, like a majority of companies, are not focused on improving working conditions in factories, they are not necessarily using fair materials, etc. Additionally, the support of Omarchy is problematic. In a nutshell, Omarchy is pretty much a preconfigured Arch that DHH likes. The controversy is that this DHH is an insane alt-right guy, anti-immigrant, transphobic, homophobic, white supremecist, all that. The direct support (particularly on social media) of Omarchy is seen as an endorsement of DHH, when you go to Omarchy’s website, DHH’s name is right there. This obviously isn’t a good look for Framework, and they hammered in the idea that they are a “big tent”, implying that they are okay with DHH’s views. Point have also been made that Omarchy is a very new distribution with a small userbase.
Source I found in a quick search: https://gardinerbryant.com/the-omarchy-framework-thing/ (13th Oct 2025)
Note that Framework is not currently sponsoring Omarchy: https://frame.work/blog/framework-sponsorships (I am unsure whether they originally did, or if was just the social media promotion)
Other companies support their own fair share of far-right lunatics, but that doesn’t make it ethical for Framework to do so of course.
edit:
TLDR: Framework is not ethical, but I would say it’s more ethical than other companies due to their support for right-to-repair, interaction with the community, and transparency on their sponsorships. It’s not a nice world out there, but Framework is one of the better ones.
They do have Rails World on their list, which is an event run by DHH
That is true, I did not check that! At least Rails World isn’t a solo project by DHH like Omarchy is, so much of the proceeds are not going towards DHH (but of course, some of it is unfortunately). It looks like Framework is sponsoring the event in part to secure a booth to showcase their devices and such.
I read another comment somewhere that pointed out that all of the other things they sponsor are much more relevant to them, e.g OS and hardware projects and events. It’s weird that there’s just the one that’s focused on web development and it’s the one run by DHH.
I have nothing more to add other than that I believe it’s good that Framework has been transparent with their sponsorships. Compare this to other companies where there are all sorts of secret deals that are hidden under the rug.