On 05/07/05, Robert Paskowitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You have encouraged gentoo to remove patent-encoumbered software from > portage. I'd like to see you personally work with only software that > does not contain any patented work.
No, I have encouraged Gentoo to remove software written by companies who are strongly behind software patents. Big difference. It's so easy to get software patents in the USA currently that it's likely that every single thing in the tree is covered by some bogus software patent. However, in most cases, these patents are not held by the same people who are making the software. > > I applaud Gentoo's > > efforts in displaying the banners, but so long as Gentoo continues to > > assist and advertise for the very companies who are pushing for > > software patents, I do not see it as a particularly credible protest. > > Would it not be better to avoid becoming involved in the issue > > entirely if one is not prepared to back up a cute little banner with > > actual actions? > > > Gentoo has made no such efforts. Some developers have taken it upon > themselves to make their feelings heard. For those that don't > instinctively realise that planet.gentoo.org agregates stuff writen by > individuals, the following notice is at the bottom of the page: > > Views expressed in the content shown above do not necessarily represent > the views of Gentoo Linux or the Gentoo Foundation. Oh come on. The planet is a service provided by Gentoo, with content provided by Gentoo developers, which is hosted on a Gentoo domain, presumably using Gentoo hardware. A cute disclaimer doesn't change its status. If you seriously think that content provided via the planet is not representative of Gentoo views, I invite you to try posting something really offensive to it and see how long it lasts. If it remains uncensored, I'll accept that Gentoo as an organisation has no influence over the content. Otherwise, by moderating the contents, Gentoo is implicitly accepting responsibility for the items which remain. -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list
