Simon Josefsson <simon@josefsson.org> writes: ... > I agree it doesn't make sense for either organization to change > approach. I do believe that what we are seeing in this vote, however, > is that Debian _is_ changing tactics: rather than providing a 100% free > Debian (guided by the DSC/DFSG) and using that as a tactic to change the > world, Debian will (under A/E) provide a 99% free Debian. Back in the days when I was involved in producing CD images, people used to use them to make CDs (shocking, I know ;-) ). As such, I have always thought of the installer images as being outside Debian, since in order for them to be useful they needed to be instantiated in a physical form that was encrusted with layer upon layer of patent, trademark, licensing and other legal constraints regarding the form of both the media and the devices used for reading the media. Of course, in the mean time the physical representation has changed, but still, SD cards are inherently non-free in many ways, even if the data on them is purely free. I'd suggest that there's always been a fuzzy tide-mark showing where you should stop worrying too much about the freeness we can achieve. Stretching that metaphor a little: making non-free firmware available in the installer strikes me as equivalent to offering Wellington boots to new arrivals at the beach, so that they can wade across the muddy patch to get to the nice dry, sandy bit of beach where we play barefoot. Cheers, Phil. -- |)| Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560] HANDS.COM Ltd. |-| http://www.hands.com/ http://ftp.uk.debian.org/ |(| Hugo-Klemm-Strasse 34, 21075 Hamburg, GERMANY
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