On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 11:13:07AM -0500, Clint Adams wrote:
> > We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free-software
> > community. We will place their interests first in our
> > priorities. We will support the needs of our users for operation
> > in many different kinds of computing environment.
> >
> > We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of programs
> > that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We
> > have created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our FTP archive
> > for this software.
>
> Perhaps my command of English is shaky, but I notice more than one tense
> in this context of yours. Note that "We will be guided" is a promise.
> Note that "We have created" is purely informational, and not some
> promise we made that needs to be weaseled out of.
Uh, just FYI, I made this point (an examination of the differences in
language between the final clause of the Social Contract and the others)
back in 2000 or so, and was accused by Manoj of Clintonesque
weaselling.[1]
So, we've been over this ground before, and there is no particular
reason to expect Manoj in particular to be persuaded by such analyses,
even when founded on objective fact. (Yes, the verb tenses really are
different, and yes, the title of SC #5 doesn't make a statement, whereas
the titles of all the others do.)
[1] I can't find the cite at present. I clearly remember it, but
memory is an imperfect thing. If Manoj challenges my recollection,
I'll do an exhaustive search of my mail archives, and if I still
can't find it, I will retract this assertion. Manoj, do you
remember this?
--
G. Branden Robinson | Religion is regarded by the common
Debian GNU/Linux | people as true, by the wise as
branden@debian.org | false, and by the rulers as useful.
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
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