Re: non-DFSG section and CD distributers
Hi,
>>"Paul" == Paul J Thompson <thomppj@thomppj.student.okstate.edu> writes:
Paul> I think we are losing track of the point. Those of us arguing
Paul> "against?" the dfsg are simply maybe hoping for some small
Paul> consideration toward revision. Not voting to scrap the whole
Paul> thing, just work some to recognize the other side of the concept
Paul> a little better.
Oh, we went through this just four months ago! and we voted 70
to 2 for it! When will this stop? Have you heard of the Salami game?
You see, the <your favourite nasty enemy> would come to the table,
and when nobody was near, slice off s thin shred of salami. There
would be immediate uproar, and people would yell back and forth, but
the portion was not worth fighting over, and maybe the chappies were
just hungry, and the issue would be dropped. Until the next time. And
the next time ... Maybe it is time to stop snipping at the
salami^H^H^H^H^H^H^H DFSG before it crumbles away?
Paul> Manoj,
Paul> Besides that, is it sane to go at this project (the Debian
Paul> project) with the idea that we aren't being taken seriously?
I think so. I do Debian for me, really. If I spent this time
contracting out I'd be rich. Rich, I say! I work on debian for a lot
of reasons encapsulated in Bruce's message, and being taken seriously
(or thought sane) is low down on my list.
>> Secondly, we have managed to survive quite well despite our DFSG
>> and seeming disregard for the fact that we live in a commercial
>> world.
Paul> Survive, survive? Did I hear you say the word survive? Come
Paul> on, anyone who pays attention to the Linux "market" realizes
Paul> that it changes faster the you can catch up with it. We could
Paul> easily be ahead of RedHat in a year. Or we could be old news.
We don't want to be ahead of red hat if it means giving up our
principles, as defined in the DFSG. And Hey, I have this neat
operating system to run on my machine. What more could one ask for?
>> I think you do not understand what Debian is about then.
Paul> I don't think I care what Debian is about, if we are going to
Paul> measure according to your grandiose terms. I think I care about
Paul> the quality of Debian.
Quality is importat. But we do not sacrifice the DFSG for
quality.
Paul> But instead, I think I might know more about it then you expect.
Paul> Debian has this quality that the other Distributions lack. (and
Paul> don't tell me"free! free! free!") I think it stems from the
Paul> fact it is maintained entirely by volunteers and is related
Paul> really closely to what makes Linux so cool.
Why do you think volunteers work on it? And why do you think
the people who work for free care so much about free software? It
would be so easy to get remuneration for a similar body of work on
the commercial market, and people who do not care for freedom in
software invariably go off and make money. The people who remain tend
to champion free software.
manoj
--
"I was brought up in the other service; but I knew from the first
that the Devil was my natural master and captain and friend. I saw
that he was in the right, and that the world cringed to his conqueror
only from fear." Shaw, "The Devil's Disciple"
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
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