Re: Call for seconds: DFSG violations in Lenny
----- "Bas Wijnen" <wijnen@debian.org> wrote:
> So what's the problem? We want to provide a 100% free software
> distribution. Appearantly we currently can't do that. We're far on the
> way, but not there yet. We may have thought we were there, but we were
> wrong.
>
> So indeed, people currently running Debian don't run a 100% free
> software system. The simple obvious thing to do, seems to be (to me at
> least) to remove non-free parts from main, and tell people the truth:
> "currently, we can't offer a 100% free solution, please use this stuff
> from non-free, we're working on free solutions".
>
> Instead you seem to invent a new rule, which says "the number of users
> of Debian must be as high as possible", and you even want to break SC#1
> for this rule.
I think parallels can be drawn between this situation and the recent financial crisis. Certain banks found a way to bend the rules on what they considered to be "good investments". Because they took stable investments to the casino with slanted odds they started to make lots of money. Other banks saw this and began to feel uncomfortable and jealous about what they were seeing and followed suit. Soon, many banks were caving in to their greed and by the time the whistle blew the damage was very deep. As the smoke clears we see that financial institutions who followed their values are the big winners. They stood on rock while others built castles on sand.
Just because something is popular doesn't mean its right. The first lesson anyone must learn in the stock market is that following the crowd is a doomed behavior. If you focus on short term results at the expense of long term strategy then, eventually, the value of your organization will disappear. Warren Buffet and his teacher Benjamin Graham say "always look for value".
I agree that we must be sensible about providing users with a workable product. Let's just make sure "thou shalt not steal" doesn't turn into "steal when convenient". If we must break the rules then please lets do "steal when you have no other choice and pay back with interest later".
--
Ean Schuessler, CTO Brainfood.com
ean@brainfood.com - http://www.brainfood.com - 214-720-0700 x 315
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