Re: Debian trademark [was: Debian GNU/w32, may ready to be started?]
On Mon, 3 Dec 2001, Steve Langasek wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 03, 2001 at 06:14:04PM -0500, Dale Scheetz wrote:
<intersting bloat removed ;->
>
> > How is this any different from Debian providing support for free software
> > running on a proprietary OS? The provided software is free. Only the
> > target OS isn't. The result is that folks who couldn't use free software
> > before are now able to. Doesn't that "promote the use of free software"?
>
> The first thing that comes to people's minds when they think of
> 'Debian'[1] is "free operating system". Many people believe there is
> value in this connotation. A port of Debian to win32 is /not/ a free
> operating system, it's a collection of free software running on a
> proprietary operating system. Using the same "Debian" name for both
> things would dilute this connotation. Is that what we, as a community,
> would want?
I understand your position here, and it comes close to convincing me that
you may be right, except that I am still not convinced that this is
anything more than neurotic fear of non-free associations. I don't fear
the association, even with Windblows ... it can only make us look better.
Luck,
Dwarf
--
_-_-_-_-_- Author of "Dwarf's Guide to Debian GNU/Linux" _-_-_-_-_-_-
_- _-
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