On 09/06/2011 10:36 PM, Daniel Martí wrote: > It's not of their concern. Non-free repos are not part of the install > config and onky users who really wish it can add them, to their own > risk. Debian clearly states they are not recommended but we accept that > in some cases the temporal use of non-free software can do some good, as > in developing free alternatives to it.
I believe that the only legitimate use of non-free software is while in the development of a free replacement for it. Someone who is developing a free software replacement to foo probably won't need it to be in a repo to do their work. > Furthermore, guess why Debian doesn't give away mozilla products, which > all of your "completely free" distros do. Plus, i believe choice to be > another freedom. So does Microsoft. > If you understand the risk and the danger, why > shouldn't you be able to decide it yourself? Again, non-free software is > not considered a long-term solution anyway. A distribution can never stop users from installing whatever software they want in their computer. This is the freedom that free software gives you: use your computer as you want. Although, distro developers can make a political decision in favour of freedom and give up on actively making it easier for users to trap themselves with non-free software. They are spending time, resources and effort in making non-free software available to users in an easy fashion. IMHO this is promoting non-free software, not giving freedom of choice, which users indeed already have by using a(n almost) free operating system. -- Rodrigo Rodrigues da Silva http://garoa.net.br http://polignu.org http://gnu.org
