Re: Is Debian going to support Sincere Choice?

[Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>]

On Tue, Sep 10, 2002 at 01:37:04AM -0300, Gustavo Noronha Silva wrote:
> it seems like a nice initiative... the only 'principle' helding 
> me is this one:
> 
> "We assert that Open Source and Proprietary models can be used together
> effectively. A number of our companies deploy software under the GPL 
> license and proprietary software in the same product."
>
> I think DFSG's last paragraph makes us supporters of this 'principle', 
> though.

You mean the Social Contract's last paragraph?  I don't think it's
the same: we reluctantly acknowledge that some users "require the
use of" non-free programs, i.e. they are forced by circumstance to
make an inferior choice, and we're willing to support them in that.

In addition, our non-free section is still much more free than
the "proprietary software" referred to here.  We're not distributing
anything with a Microsoft EULA on it.

> The page lists only 2 supporters up to now: Bruce Perens himself and
> Lindows.com.

So I guess "a number of our companies" is 1 out of 1 :-)

> What does the Debian Project thinks about this?

I'm actually more concerned about this article:

   Freedom to Set Policy
          Individual users, businesses, and government should all be free
          to set their own policies regarding what sorts of software they
          will acquire and use. They should not force their policies upon
          others.

I have no idea what they mean with this.  Any meaning I can think of
is already covered by one of the other articles.  What kind of "force
their policies" is deprecated here?  If I say, "I will only work for
organizations that endorse free software", would I be in conflict with
this article?

-- 
Richard Braakman
"I sense a disturbance in the force"
"As though millions of voices cried out, and ran apt-get."
  (Anthony Towns about the Debian 3.0 release)