Re: Debian Linux and Non-Free Packages.
On Tue, 24 Feb 1998 aqy6633@acf5.nyu.edu wrote:
> > if you want wide distribution and adoption of your software in the free
> > software community, then use a free/open source toolkit. if you don't
> > care about that then use motif or some other proprietary toolkit.
>
> The thing here is that no free toolkit meets my need.
so help to make one that does meet your needs. or adapt your needs
so that they can be achieved with the free software tools that are
available. or both.
> > if you do want lots of people to use your software, and lesstif or
> > other toolkit isn't good enough for your needs then you should join
> > the development team of one of the projects and contribute code
> > until it is good enough.
>
> Great proposition. Unfortunately, both lesstif and gtk developers
> flamed me heavily while I was lurking on their lists :) May be it's my
> problem though...
could be. it's hard to imagine that a lurker would get flamed. people
usually only get flamed for saying something annoying.
> Anyway, if we recall from what we started, the GPL licensing which
> obstructs my development...
that's one way of looking at it.
a more accurate view is that you choose to develop software which is
incompatible with DFSG licenses. It is your right to develop software
however you choose, but you shouldn't complain when your own choices
(made deliberately and with fore-knowledge of the licensing problems
that you will encounter) prevent you from using GPL-ed software.
If you want to use that software, you have to abide by the licensing
restrictions....just as anyone who wishes to use your software has to
abide by your license.
You win some, you lose some.....it's up to you to weigh the pros and cons
and make your own decision.
> The time may come when lesstif is mature enough so that my software
> can be safely recompiled and become compelely free. I still cannot
> reuse GPL'd code *now*.
yes. that is one of the results of your choices.
> > > If you like, I can send you a pilot prototype so that you can
> > > compare its look with the one of, say, gzilla.
> >
> > no thanks, i'm not terribly interested in software which i can't
> > modify if i need to. (i don't have motif so i can't recompile it
> > even if it is free)
>
> Do you use Netscape? :)
yes. netscape has enough utility value to offset the non-freeness.
as i said, open source is only ONE of my criteria. a very important one,
but not the only one. fortunately, netscape is being released as an open
source project next month so this anomaly will be gone.
i also have staroffice 3.1 installed. i don't use it. the only reason i
have it installed is so that i can convert MS word documents that people
occasionally send me no matter how many times i tell them to send plain
text.
Unfortunately StarOffice 3 can't understand Word documents from office
97 so it's useless....it'll be one of the first things that get removed
next time i run out of disk space.
maybe StarOffice 4 can do it - i'll try installing it next time i need
to convert a Word doc.
craig
--
craig sanders
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