Re: General Resolution: Removing non-free
On Wed, Jun 07, 2000 at 12:44:18AM -0500, John Goerzen wrote:
> Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au> writes:
> > and put me on the list of people who think it's a dumb idea and a waste
> > of time.
> >
> > non-free software doesn't need to be discriminated against (and changing
> > the rules & practices relating to non-free software after 4+ years is
> > discrimination), ignoring it is sufficient.
>
> We have always discriminated against non-free software, and rightly
> so.
we don't actively discriminate against it, we ignore it as much as
possible.
there is a difference.
> After all, Debian is an organzation founded upon principles of Free
> Software,
yes, yes, and the sky is usually blue. tell me something i don't know.
> and it is only right that we reject non-free software.
s/reject/ignore/
just ignore it, and it *will* eventually go away. non-free software
cannot compete with free software in the long term. in the short term,
who cares?
> You might say that what I propose is exactly that: ignoring non-free
> software.
no, your proposal is not just ignoring non-free software. it is actively
discriminating against it.
ignore it, it isn't worth worrying about. if you don't like non-free
software, then don't use it and don't recommend it...but leave other
people to make their own choices without ramming your choices down their
throats whether they like it or not.
> Why should an organization whose primary purpose is the promotion of
> Free Software aid the non-free software?
having a non-free section doesn't "aid" non-free software.
in any case, what you are forgetting is that except for a tiny handful
of free software zealots like you and me and also quite a few other
debian *developers*, most people (i.e most of our users) want a mixture
of free & non-free software. by making it easy for debian users to have
that mixture, you create yet another reason for new users to choose
debian. by making it difficult, you create yet another reason for new
users to choose something else instead, redhat perhaps...or one of the
others who care even less about free software ideals, suse or turbolinux
or whoever.
seduction works better than rabid zealotry and enforced ritual
purification.
craig
--
craig sanders
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