Re: non-free software

[Bob Hilliard <hilliard@metrolink.net>]

 Hi,

     I think this thread has gotten out of hand.  I am _not_ an
advocate for non-free software.  If a proposal was put to a vote to
delete paragraph 5. from the Social Contract, and to remove non-free
from debian, I would support it enthusiastically.  Until and unless
such a proposal is adopted, I believe we should adhere to Social
Contract in its entirety, including the sentence "We encourage CD
manufacturers to read the licenses of software packages in these
directories and determine if they can distribute that software on
their CDs."

     By providing them with a pre-built CD image that omits non-free,
we are to some extent discouraging what we say we encourage.  I did
not propose including non-free on the Official CD; I tossed that out
as one possible way to correct this.  Undoubtedly there are other and
better ways of encouraging the inclusion of parts of non-free on CDs.

     A less controversial approach would be to post a prominent notice
at the location where the "Official CD" image is obtained, suggesting
that manufacturer's review the non-free area, and determine which
packages they could include without determining unacceptable
liability risks.

     As far as liability is concerned, the Social Contract encourages
manufacturers to read the licenses and decide for themselves which
packages they could safely include.  Some manufacturers, such as
CheapBytes, made that determination; others such as Infomagic felt it
was safer to "just say no" to non-free.  

Bob, who prefers free software
-- 
   _
  |_)  _  |_       Robert D. Hilliard    <hilliard@metrolink.net>
  |_) (_) |_)      Palm City, FL  USA    PGP Key ID: A8E40EB9


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