few mentioned changes. Apples to apples comparisons I say. I adjust
my repositories in a repository browser and poke away. I find java, I
find tools to work with many non-free pieces of software as well.
Could you explain what "I adjust my repositories in a repository
browser" means, precisely? I need to know the details in order to see
whether this is a problem that gNewSense is responsible for.
Non-free software is available on the net, and people can find and
install it. I think that is unethical, but gNewSense is not
responsible for that (and neither is OpenBSD). On the other hand, if
there is something in gNewSense recommending or leading you to that
non-free software, that would be the responsibility of gNewSense.
So OpenBSD becomes non-free because we don't have a database column
that labels stuff non-free, or a special folder for non-free packages?
Putting the non-free software in a separate folder or labeling it is
not enough. That is what Debian does, and that's why I don't
recommend Debian. Likewise, that's what Ubuntu does nowadays, which
is why I don't recommend Ubuntu. Gobuntu does the same thing -- the
non-free repositories are disabled by default, but a dialog box offers
the chance to enable them. So I don't recommend Gobuntu either.
(Gobuntu also has the problem that its name is so close to Ubuntu that
people would get them confused. Practically speaking it is not
feasible to recommend Gobuntu without recommending Ubuntu.)
The right thing to do is kick out the non-free softwre entirely. I
tried for years to persuade Debian to do that, and eventually I gave
up on them. I tried to talk with the Ubuntu developers about this,
too, and did not succeed. All I can do is not recommend those
distros.
