Re: SEUL: Free Enough?

[jfm2@club-internet.fr]

> 
> I know I am just kicking a dead horse horse here, but there are some
> things I would just like to point out.
> 
> 1) SEUL is not the FSF or Debian.  Although we may be using Debian as
> the base distro, it is not necessary to maintain the 100% free standards
> that Debian has.

If you are speaking about KDE and Qt the problem is not freedom but
the dangers for Linux of having most of its X programs (KDE has the
potential of becoming a federator) depnding on a non-free library.
Better not promote KDE.  That does not mean than I am against
including small Qt-based programs and Qt itself.  But KDE the answer
is no.

> 
> 2) Some very nice software is not free, sometimes this software is the
> best of it's breed, as well.  Our final goal is to creat a _Simple End
> User_ Linux distro, not a _Most Free_ Linux distro.  There really is
> quite a difference.
> 

I have nothing about including non-free software if its licence is
acceptable.  Eg we need graphics to impress users.  A modeller would
be fine.  Amapi is shareware for Linux but you can use it during a
whole year so I think it is acceptable to use it if we don't find a
free modeller good enough.

> 3) Does a new user really care?  More likely than not they won't give a
> damn about source code.  We will, of course, educate them about free
> software, and if they want to hack around in source code, the time has
> come to get Debian or Red Hat.

Distributing source code is a legal obligation on GPL software.  Ie if
you don't offer you are incurring in piracy and the author could
have you prosecuted. 

> 
> 4) We end up duplicating some other efforts out there.  For example, are
> we going to write our own desktop environment?
> 
> An application need not be 100% free to be 'free enough' for SEUL.
> 

Agreed.

> -- 
> "Win32 sucks so hard it could pull matter out of a Black Hole." 
>         -- Pohl Longsine
> 

Agreed.

-- 
			Jean Francois Martinez

"For drinking muddy water if that is the water of truth,
            for that the camel is needed"