Thien-Thi Nguyen (2003-05-15 09:25:06 -0400) : > Roland Mas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > The problem is that the rules (guidelines, actually) for deciding > what is free and what isn't do not emanate from the users but > from our constitution and social contract.
[OT: On the other hand, e-mail reply policies are explicitly recommended by users, by way of the Mail-Copies-To headers. Please respect that.] > well, the laws in some countries are heading towards this same > rigidity; who benefits? This is a completely different thing. I'll admit my phrasing wasn't totally explicit in what you quoted (although the rest of the message does explain it), so I'll rephrase: The problem is that the rules (guidelines, actually) for deciding what we consider free enough to put in Debian, and what we don't, do not emanate from the users but from our constitution and social contract. We are not restricting our users, like your remark seems to imply we are. We are restricting ourselves. There's a big Debian stamp on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution (red and swirly, of course :-). We mean something by it, and people have recognised this position. Some even appreciate it. You don't, but you are not restricted to using the official Debian CDs. You are welcome to use the contrib and non-free sections of the ftp servers. They are not endorsed as much by the Debian Project, but you know they are managed by the same people with roughly the same amount of care and quality. > if you have read _diamond age_ (neal stephenson), I haven't. So, no idea about your last questions. Roland. -- Roland Mas A man walks into a bar. Bang.
