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Re: General Resolution: Removing non-free



On Sat, Jun 10, 2000 at 08:17:54AM -0700, Chip Salzenberg wrote:
> According to Francesco Tapparo:
> > "The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have
> >  made common cause to create a free operating system."
> > 
> > So the primary objective of Debian is to create a free operating system.
> 
> Sure.  And Debian has achieved, and continues to achieve, this goal.

Good. Then to make a hig-level distribution is a an important but secondary
goal to the objective to make a complete free operating system.
When these two objectives conflict, the second and more important must
prevail.
(btw: your affermations that debian achievee this objective is too much
optimistic, I think).

> 
> > >    4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software
> > >                          ^^^^^^^^^
> > 
> > In the parapgraph you cited, there is no promise that Debian will
> > maintain non-free software.
> 
> No, but opinions differ on whether users will actually be benefitted,
> even in the long term, by disorganizing the organized non-free archive.

This is not relevant (even if I think our user will be benefitted from a such
move in the long term): Debian has an objective (to build a completely free 
operating system).
Of course Debian care about its users, but it can operate only within the
restrictions of its objective.
If the primary priority would be to build a great operating sysmte, Debian
should put a lot of non-free software directly in the distribution:
StarOffice, various shareware etc.
We don't because our priorities are different.

> -- 
> Chip Salzenberg              - a.k.a. -              <chip@valinux.com>
> "I wanted to play hopscotch with the impenetrable mystery of existence,
>     but he stepped in a wormhole and had to go in early."  // MST3K
> 
> 
> -- 
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-- 
Francesco Tapparo				 |	cesco@debian.org
fight for your software freedoms: www.fsf.org    |      tapparo@mat.unimi.it



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