** On Jun 10, Jeff Licquia scribbled: > > > Woody won't be an issue, it seems, for another year at least. > > So why make decissions of that sort *now*? Are you ready to guarantee > > Mozilla, some replacement for JDK, povray, xanim, a load of math programs, > > why, even gimp has some share in that - so *will you* guarantee that there > > will be a free replacement for all of the above (and more)? If such is your > > promise then go ahead, remove non-free from woody. > > *I* am not ready to make any guarantees. Most of that isn't software > I use. That you don't use those packages doesn't make them unnecessary. From non-free I use only Netscape, but it still doesn't make the software unnecessary, does it? Saying "I don't use it, so I don't give a damn" isn't a way of thinking a person responsible, even partly, for such important thing as an Operating System of any kind should present. In the long run what a developer uses or doesn't use has no importance whatsover to the user of the operating system in question - distributions and operating systems exist becouse of, and for their users. One might call a developer a "public servant" in that respect - it's the audience, it's the users who demand software, who have needs. The developer's responsibility lies in provinding the users with what they need. Therefore I'll just repeat what I said before - until we can replace all the non-free software with equally good and functional, free counterparts, until that time we have *no* moral right of taking it away from the users (and this includes full support for the software in relation to the operating system we represent). > > > None of that is impossible with the resolution. The only sticking > > > point might be the BTS. > > *only*? > > Yes, only. I didn't say how big of a point that would be. Ok, I misinterpreted the word. > > maintenance than it is done now! So, ironically, the non-free software will > > be paid more attention and care than it deserves - which is, as I uderstand, > > what you and the other supporters of the GR are trying to avoid! Where's the > > logic? > > Careful with the "yous". I'm just pointing things out and exploring > ideas. I am undecided on the proposal. Perfect. I just hope that politics won't be put before the needs of the Debian users. See point 4 of the Social Contract. Users are mentioned there BEFORE software... That wording means something as well, in my book at least... marek
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