Re: [Gnome-print] Re: GnomeFont state of affairs

[Wolfgang Sourdeau <wolfgang ultim net>]

>>>>> In article
>>>>> <Pine.LNX.4.04.10006171152360.768-100000@archer.kd-dev.com>,
>>>>> Derek Simkowiak <dereks@kd-dev.com> writes:


    Derek> Uh... just dropping into this thread...

    Derek> Since when is Gnome a pawn in the FSF's political agenda?

Gnome is part of the GNU Project. It is the official GNU Desktop.

    Derek> Speaking as an enduser, I could care less about whether or not Gnome
    Derek> advances the GPL or FSF.

A lot of end users don't care about licensing issues, neither the way
their rights are played with. But this is a sad thing, which should be
sorted out. Now that people are enough educated on how easy, smart,
practical, cute,... the computer programs are, we should educate
people to tell them how much their rights are at stake. This is
unfortunately something that the marketing departments don't take care
of.
 
    Derek> This is one thing that bugs me--it seems some people believe that
    Derek> using the GPL or LGPL automatically means you'd be willing to sacrifice
    Derek> the quality of your program for the benefit of "Free Software".

A lot of GNU software are used because of their technical superiority
compared to their proprietary counterparts (look at bash, for
example). So I definitely don't think that free software = bad quality
software.

    Derek> I'm not sure what "proprietary" systems are being referred to here
    Derek> (as far as I can tell, proprietary systems can be easily supported by
    Derek> "Free Software"; Samba and Netatalk come to mind).  If we want Gnome to
    Derek> make it to the corporate desktop--which will then lead people to install
    Derek> it at home--we need to make the transition from proprietary to "Free" as
    Derek> seamless as possible.

This is not true. The point in free software is to help poeple keep
their rights with the software they are using. But it is even better
to tell them how important it is, and why. The main reason why people
are losing their freedoms is because they are either misinformed or
uninformed. So we should definitely tell them what the GNU system
brings to them.


Wolfgang