Re: The Gordian Knot (was Re: Negative Summary of the Split Proposal)
On Thu, Jul 08, 1999 at 12:22:45AM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
> That is part of the issue: I would like to be able to refer people to
> an official Debian web site, without thus referring people to the
> non-free packages. This is not the whole of the issue because the web
> is not the only interface people use to access the list of Debian
> packages. What apt does is also important, and other interfaces
> including (if my memory serves me) FTP.
>
> It's true that the GNU Project could set up its own Debian web site
> with a modified version of the web pages. I don't want to do that,
> for a few reasons:
>
> * It would take more work (but that alone would not be fatal).
>
> * It could appear like a hostile gesture towards Debian on the part of
> GNU, and I don't feel good about that.
>
> * It is important for the public to see Debian give more significance
> to the DFSG, not just see that the GNU Project does.
>
> * It would be less effective, since every time we say "We recommend
> Debian", people would be likely to forget whatever URL we give them,
> and just look for "the Debian web site".
>
> * It would raise the question of what we do about the places
> in the system distribution itself which refer to www.debian.org.
> Would we change them? That would mean incompatibilizing various
> packages.
>
> So I would like to be able to recommend an Official Debian web page
> with a natural name, to describe the Official Debian system--not make
> GNU's Own Modified Debian Pages.
Forgive me if someone else has already persued this line of thought.
I can see your point of view, I really can. I think that you can also
see the point of view that we are trying to make the system easy to
use for new users because that is where we are taking a beating versus
the other distributions. Hard seperation of the non-free software
introduces some very difficult usability issues that may very well
prevent users and organizations from selecting Debian. Obviously,
popularity isn't our primary goal or we would have long ago settled
for creating another SuSE or Caldera, but that also doesn't justify
cutting our nose off to spite our face.
So, let me see if I can address a central issue here that you have
bounced back and forth on. Fundamentally, some Debianers believe that
selecting Free software because you had no other choice is no moral
decision at all. Some might argue that you have "tricked" the end user
into being moral because you made it too difficult to find out how to
do something immoral. I actually agree with this point of view.
I think that it is far more valuable if we present the oppurtunities
to use non-free software to our users, but are certain to embed a
message which represents our views while doing so. For instance, if
the website package search system could offer a check box like:
[] Check this box if you would like to see non-free software in
your search results.
WARNING: YOU SHOULD AVOID INSTALLING NON-FREE SOFTWARE ON YOUR
SYSTEM!
Software that isn't free reduces the flexibility and control over
your Debian GNU/Linux operating system. In all cases you should
try to use a free package instead of a non-free one. We provide
this search facility only as a convenience to users that have some
specific dependence on proprietary software. To read more about
why you shouldn't use non-free software read
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy.
This way we get the oppurtunity to make the user aware of our beliefs
everytime they consider using non-free software. Rather than
considering it a problem and putting it out of our sight, we can make
it an oppurtunity to convince people of our views and transmit our
belief system.
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Ean Schuessler Director of New Products and Technologies
Novare International Inc. The Unstoppable Fist of Digital Action
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