Re: freedomization task list [was: Re: Dangerous precedent being set - possible serious violation of the GPL]
On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Jules Bean wrote:
> Rubbish. FUD, FUD, FUD. Successive copies of emacs will share almost all
> their memory with each other. (No, this isn't a clever emacs feature;
> it's a standard feature of Linux VM, and other good VM systems).
>
> Yes, 10 copies of emacs will use a bit more memory
*Any* more memory will impact on the freenet. It runs on the donations
of the membership, so they don't have an awful lot extra to throw at
new hardware. Hmm ... freedom of system from non-free software vs.
more money for hardware? Not a difficult choice.
There should be a good free alternative for pine/pico, and it shouldn't
use more memory than pine/pico use now, as that is an important reason
many sites use them.
> 1) Debian should include a wide variety of packages, to suit different
> needs and preferences
And Debian has done well here.
> 2) Users should be interested in trying different editors and exploring
> how powerful they are, without being influenced by the prejudice of their
> friends ;-)
Well, this flat-out trivializes the real needs of the existing user base.
There are now sites that, for whatever reasons, *depend* on non-free
software. Providing *good* alternatives for them will help get them off
of that non-free software.
I'll tell you why I use pine/pico. For one thing, it's because it is
nearly universal. I have several accounts on systems where I do not have
control over what is installed and available for my use. These systems
provide pine/pico, as their integrated email/editor solution (in at least
two cases, the *only* solution available on that site). Later, after I
got my own system, I considered switching over because of the non-free
status of pine/pico. But by then I was already "hooked". I tried mutt
for a while but found it fell short of my expectations/needs for
similarity with the other systems I was used to working with. I haven't
closed the door on that possibility. I would really like to switch.
However, there are these few issues that are yet to be resolved:
- mutt only poorly approximates the functionality of pine, and I (and my
wife) are "power users" of pine, depending on a very wide range of
features offered by pine and generally happy with the level & ease
of configurability & use of pine
- I'm used to pico ... I'm lazy ... I haven't found anything better
for a simple editor that would be easy for me to switch to
- the integration between pico/pine doesn't exist in mutt + pick-a-
random-editor
- the size issue that I mentioned before
This is not an all-inclusive list, and doesn't include the needs of my
user base (primarily my wife, but also other friends and family members).
I'm not adverse to trying new options ... but there are real-world
constraints that keep people using non-free software. I'd like to see as
many of those constraints removed as possible wrt the provision of a
fully-functional free replacement for pine/pico.
Ben
--
nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
Debian http://www.debian.org synrg@debian.org
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