> I could be very wrong here but, if Trisquel's official repositories > don't include MATE desktop, isn't that because of MATE not being free > software back then when it was evaluated for inclusion?
No. It was because there was no Ubuntu MATE distribution at the time. MATE was somewhat new. Since MATE is a fork of GNOME 2, it was never not free software. Alternatively, the peeps in charge couldn't be bothered. > I would actually advise against adding whole repositories/PPAs since > they could turn the system unusable or even worse: recommend non-free > software. The Ubuntu MATE PPA recommending non-free software? Nah, not likely. MATE is a fork of GNOME 2. It is a free software project, and is as free as GNOME 2 ever was. On an unrelated note, I would much prefer Trisquel to use MATE as opposed to the 'Trisquel DE'. Not only is MATE far more lightweight as opposed to GNOME fallback, with infinitely snappier response times (seriously, it is a lot faster. When I used Debian MATE it was a *lot* faster than Trisquel GNOME), it would also require a lot less maintenance because MATE could provide the traditional, seamless, easily-customisable desktop experience that the Trisquel project strives for without having to customise a GNOME spinoff and then maintain it. Now repeat after me: MATE for Trisquel 8! It even rhymes.
