On Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:27:28 -0500, John Goerzen wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 11:24:18PM +0200, David Paleino wrote:
>>> vote :-)
>>
>> Probably :)
>> If I were a DD (-- and I'm NM), I'd think a bit more before proposing a GR
>> to *completely* remove non-free. Non-free is, for some users, necessary (I'd
>> happily --purge flashplugin-nonfree, but I can't -- I need it [work,
>> university, $foo]).
>
> Well, of course removing non-free from Debian and moving non-free to
>
non-free.org are pretty much the same thing, are they not?
>
> The question is whether Debian as an institution supports it, not
> whether humans that happen to be Debian developers do so.
You're right, point for you.
>> Non-free is there just because the free counterparts aren't optimal. Someday
>> these will, and non-free will just disappear from Debian :)
>
> I think otherwise. 8 years ago, people made the same arguments. Back
> then it was things like Netscape, I think. Now we are talking flash.
Now is different. IMVHO the world is slowly adopting free software. In this
exact historical moment, we see laptops, netbooks and desktops sold by
*vendors* with GNU/Linux (be it Ubuntu, Xandros, or the like) pre-installed.
That's good news! I start hearing university colleagues, *Microsoft Windows*
users, asking what Linux is (the more informed ask me about Ubuntu). Public
institutions start using Free Software (be it just to contain costs!). This *is*
a world changing, IMHO.
In another 10 years (less, I hope!), the world will be more conscious about
Free Software, and its principles. And everyone will be suspicious over
closed-source. Am I a dreamer?
> There's already a lot of stuff people use over at
debian-multimedia.org and
> it's not stopping people from getting to it. Nor should it. A simple line
> in a config file and you've got access to flash, even if it's on
> suspiciousserver.ru.
I got your point here. But that's because people have grown up with Windows,
MP3s, WMVs and MSN. I can promise my sons (I'm 21 -- it still takes a bit!)
won't ever touch a closed-source software ;) -- and that's the generation that
will support Free Software in the future. A generation which will grow up with
our principles (be them the 4 freedoms according to FSF, also "expanded" to
real life possibly) in mind.
Ok ok, I stop here my mail. I'm starting dreaming ABetterWorld©, but probably
it's just because I'm too tired and sleepy (23:38 here).
Just my thoughts,
David
--
. ''`. Debian maintainer |
http://wiki.debian.org/DavidPaleino
: :' : Linuxer #334216 --|--
http://www.hanskalabs.net/
`. `'` GPG: 1392B174 ----|----
http://snipr.com/qa_page
`- 2BAB C625 4E66 E7B8 450A C3E1 E6AA 9017 1392 B174
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG
v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkjQJ8EACgkQ5qqQFxOSsXQPNQCgwNpRNSZWPpnajVf+VFfniOB+
AYQAn0DUL/RI1teQ3t6xgTX4ko6YkpGK
=v49x
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
