Hi,
>>"Gord" == Gordon Matzigkeit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Gord> [I think my mail entitled `pure' got lost in the shuffle. Otherwise,
Gord> why has nobody commented on it? I think it's the way to end the flame
Gord> war. Here it is again:]
Actually, no, I did read it, but there were more pressing
articles to respond to ;-)
Gord> Proprietary protocols are a problem.
Well, yes. But there are a lot of protocols out there that
are, and as long as we have free implementations of clients and
servers, we do not seem to care.
So the protocols are not really a problem (appletalk, anyone?
what about NFS?), the problem is free *implementations*.
Now, we have a situation that someone is trying to create a
free implemtnation of at least the clients -- this is a necesary step
to having fee implementations for all the participants in the
protocol. Rather than pulling down the crab trying to escape from the
basket, we should encourage others (to write the server side too)
Gord> Let's create a new distribution to set apart the packages that
Gord> can work just as well (or better) when connected to a network
Gord> that uses only free software (say an intranet that runs only
Gord> Debian GNU `main').
a) This is a lot of work, creating a new distribution, moving all but
a few packages to this new distribution, coordinating with
mirrors, expolaining to people what happened to gut main
b) since holy and main shall both be part of Debian, this distinction
is mostly meaningless. What does this distinction buy us, that we
put in the kind of effort?
c) We decide on freeness based on the DFSG, which is purely
licencing. I shall strongly resist junking the DFSG and putting in
(IMHO) a poorere criteria for selecting packages based on things
other than the licence.
d) Before we go any further, I would like to have explained to me how
starting a free software foray in an proprietary protocol is
harmful to the free software community
e) Explain to me how having a fee client implementation is any
dofferent from the early days of GNU, when everyhing needed an
non-free OS to run on.
manoj
--
Bizoos, n.: The millions of tiny individual bumps that make up a
basketball. Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
