Re: Better hardware support etc (Was: Debian Edu + Skolelinux: 2 names, 2 distros, 1 project)

[Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com>]

[Jonas Smedegaard]
> In other words: If you want "Debian spiced up with non-free stuff",
> you really do not want Debian but Ubuntu.

Some obviously believe this to be true, while I do not.  I believe
Debian also is for those that need to "spice" it up with non-free
stuff.  I do not claim to speak for the Debian project, of course, but
I know I have several Debian Developers who agree with me that Debian
should cater for all users, and try to make the user experience as
good as possible, also for those that need to use non-free software,
firmware or drivers.

And for the Skolelinux project, our guiding star have always been to
work on what will make the resulting "product" useful to as many
schools as possible.  The Skoleliux distribution is a way to make more
people, especially young people, aware of the qualities of free
software, and for that to work, they need to be able to get Skolelinux
working on the machines and equipment they have at the moment.  The
alternative for schools is to use Windows or MacOSX, and we need to
work very hard to get them to choose something based on free software
instead.  That means compromise and pragmatism when it comes to the
packages we distribute and the solutions we implement.  Trying to
force anything else on schools will simply drive them away from free
software, and only the non-free software houses have anything to gain
from that.

So, I believe you should pick Debian even if you need it spiced up
with non-free stuff, because Debian provide stability, quality and
integration on a level very few other distrubions can compete with. :)

Happy hacking,
-- 
Petter Reinholdtsen