Defining Free Software Business

[Yavor Doganov]

On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:56:54 +0200, Marc SCHAEFER wrote:

> This is becoming a sterile discussion.  Why not meet the Debian people,
> and exchange arguments directly ?

I'm not arguing for the sake of the arguments.  And there's nothing to
argue -- if people think that non-free software is an acceptable
thing, they cannot be convinced otherwise with dry arguments.  Either
you feel it or you do not.

> Now, a personal question: would you be satisfied:
> 
>    - if Debian dropped non-free and contrib

Yes, it is a dream of mine.

>    - then another group came along and started to
>      support non-free and contrib by itself, as an add-on to Debian

Everybody is free to work on packaging proprietary software.  The
problem is that the Debian Project should not endorse it.  Also, I
don't think it's an add-on, I think it is a subtract-on.

> this would mean that on the paper Debian would be a completely free
> distribution,

Here lies the difference between us.  The issue is not to satisfy some
requerements "on paper", it is much more important to do this
intentionally, with full conscience.  In fact Debian tries to do this
"on paper" -- they claim that non-free and contrib are not part of the
distribution, while you can download such software from their servers,
the mirrors, it is included in the release process, the BTS/PTS, all
official resources, etc. 

> which could of course, with a third-party extension, be a real-world
> distribution that many users will choose and that many other
> distribution can build interesting frameworks on (e.g. Ubuntu).

In our Free World there is no place for non-free software.  We will
continue the struggle until our world becomes the real world.  If
users choose such a distribution, that means that our task is far from
finished -- we have to educate these users.  If enough people learn
about these issues and start fighting for it, freedom will prevail.

> If this suffices to make the FSF happy, probably it could even be done.

Note that I have absolutely no authority to speak on behalf of the
FSF, even for FSF Bulgaria.  I am expressing personal opinion only.

-- 
JID: doganov at jabber.minus273.org