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Printing from Linux (was: Re: Nuance Regarding RMS)



I'm well aware the discussion period is over, but I can't let that one pass, 
so bear with me.

Le vendredi, 2 avril 2021, 18.19:02 h CEST Barak A. Pearlmutter a écrit :
> Fifty years ago a laserprinter didn't work right because of some
> software issue and he couldn't fix it because the software in that
> car-sized prototype Xerox laserprinter was proprietary and it pissed
> him off and he vowed that one day *nobody* will be in that position.
> He's holding fast to that vow. He still works tirelessly, every day,
> to bring us that vision.
> 
> I've got a stupid Dell laserprinter 80cm from me and it doesn't work
> right because of some stupid software issue and I can't fix it because
> I don't have the source code. Nobody cares. Well, except RMS. He
> cares.

As Debian Printing Team member, when you state that "Nobody cares" (about 
printing from Linux systems), I don't receive it particularily well [0]. Not 
for our work specifically (we're "just" maintainers), but for the tireless 
work from upstreams who brought the ecosystem up to a point at which I'm not 
afraid to claim that Debian Bullseye will ship with the best (Linux) printing 
user experience _ever_. Of course, this is not due to the release of FLOSS 
printer firmware [1], but rather to standardization of network (and wire) 
protocols, lots of software architecturing and writing, as well as intense 
lobbying to reach a point where virtually all newly sold printers support open 
standards, that are now supported "driverless", directly from standard Debian 
installs [2]. (Debian's not unique in that regard, it's all free software).

Although the initial trigger for the launch of the Free Sofware Foundation 
(and movement) might indeed have been a frustration with printers [3], from 
where I stand, I can reasonably state that OpenPrinting [4] _does_ care. 
Specifically, Till Kamppeter and Michael Sweet (among countless others) _do_ 
care. And their work has brought _immense_ progress for the specific question 
of "freedom to use printers in ways we see fit". I'm certainly not an expert 
on the history of these organizations, but it seems (to me) that we're at this 
point thanks to tireless efforts and industrial pragmatism from OpenPrinting 
(hence the Linux Foundation), the IEEE-ISTO Printer Working Group, Apple [5] 
and certainly others; but not particularily thanks to the FSF (or RMS) 
(notwithstanding the FSF's contribution to the principles of Free Software, of 
course).

RMS and the FSF certainly care for Free Software, but I'd refrain from using 
the "printers are bad proprietary machines, and printing from Linux sucks" 
example to illustrate that point: this particular problem was (mostly) solved 
by others; by turning this problem into "(recent) printers are bad proprietary 
machines that (mostly) follow open standards, hence printing from all OS' 
using (free) software implementing these standards is (mostly) flawless".

--
    OdyX


[0] But I also took no offense, as I also read it as a hyperbole of sorts.
[1] But in an era where most electronics from dishwashers to wireless routers
    to computer phones are essentially closed boxes of non-FLOSS
    software+firmware+hardware combinations, insisting for the release of
    FLOSS printer _firmware_ is not an effective way to reach our goals.
[2] https://wiki.debian.org/DriverlessPrinting
[3] https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/201cthe-printer-story201d-redux-a-testimonial-about-the-injustice-of-proprietary-firmware
[4] Currently a free software organization under The Linux Foundation.
[5] Yes, Apple acquired and then maintained CUPS under a FLOSS license for
    quite some time!

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