Ubuntu moving to rolling release, how will this affect Kubuntu?

[dmeyer]

No. Debian's definition of free differs. Debian is better than most other distributions though where freedom is concerned. One of the major issues that Trisquel and the free software community have with Debian is that its documentation promotes non-free software. By promote that means it tells users to go download non-free software. This defeats the point of being free. The other problem is the non-free repository is Debian. It's not like its a third party repository which violates the Debian policy.

You don't have to be in agreement with the FSF or Debians policy to understand the benefits of free software. Obviously all distributions are base nearly entirely on free software already. There are many reasons avoiding non-free pieces benefits users. There are both technical reasons (the open source side is more about this) and ethical reasons. There are also other reasons of self-interest. The non-free pieces are hindering growth and development which benefit everybody. 95% of the code in any given distribution is free. It is 5% which is holding us back and causing lots of problems.

I'm not crusading here. I nor ThinkPenguin has taken an all or nothing stance. The same would apply to Debian. We explicitly provide support for many distributions that include non-free software. We don't support non-free pieces because our products never depend on them. It is unfortunate although all most users have to start somewhere.

So Trisquel is one of those distros which isn't very pragmatic? I love most FOSS ideals but honestly, if I need proprietary stuff on my system then I should be free to do so. The fact that some distros at least assist me in my assertion of my freedoms is something I've come to expect and appreciate.

[chris000]

So Trisquel is one of those distros which isn't very pragmatic? I love most FOSS ideals but honestly, if I need proprietary stuff on my system then I should be free to do so. The fact that some distros at least assist me in my assertion of my freedoms is something I've come to expect and appreciate.

I can never figure out if people honestly don't understand free software philosophy or are just twisting it for some political reason. I'm beginning to think people have guilty consciouses or guilty pleasures they don't want to give up. We are all imperfect human beings. This is not a religious war. Nobody is forcing you to use a completely free distribution. It is not an all or nothing situation. The more you avoid the better. If all you care about is getting software for zero dollars there is always software piracy, freeware (not to be confused with free software), etc. If you care about fixing the problems, creating a better solutions, a better environment to work in, etc then help fix them by avoiding the non-free pieces. Otherwise you might as well go back to using a completely proprietary system.

[dmeyer]

I can never figure out if people honestly don't understand free software philosophy or are just twisting it for some political reason. I'm beginning to think people have guilty consciouses or guilty pleasures they don't want to give up. We are all imperfect human beings. This is not a religious war. Nobody is forcing you to use a completely free distribution. It is not an all or nothing situation. The more you avoid the better. If all you care about is getting software for zero dollars there is always software piracy, freeware (not to be confused with free software), etc. If you care about fixing the problems, creating a better solutions, a better environment to work in, etc then help fix them by avoiding the non-free pieces. Otherwise you might as well go back to using a completely proprietary system.

Sorry I didn't mean it like that. I definitely support the ideas but I get quite irritated when a distro claims to be free but won't let you do with installation as you please. Heck I even donate to my favourite projects but when it comes time to work I have to use Mathematica because nothing else is even on the same level. When a distro purposely doesn't support the installation of such software then it just frustrates me especially when the forums mark me as a sinner and try to digitally stone me.

I still remember when I tried gNewSense a while back - like 3+ years ago - and was having an issue with KDE, so i set off via IRC and in return I got berated for using KDE because they didn't consider it free enough. I won't even mention what they tried to do to me when I said I have to have Flash for a university web page but that I would promise to limit my use of it. I mean seriously, changing universities is not a reasonable reaction! To be fair, this was a few years ago and maybe I just got a really bitchy community member. I'm really sorry I sound negative but I've tried one of the free distros and its left a very nasty taste in my mouth. I don't even think gNewSense still even exists.

I appreciate how you don't mind admitting that its not an all or nothing approach. I stick to as much free stuff in my computer as I can but nothing is more important to me than getting the job done. The reason I started on Linux was on the technical merits of the platform alone and that will remain my single deciding choice for platforms over the years. Free or not makes no difference at all, only merit counts in my books,

[Detonate]

I ran across this article this morning. Seems pertinent to this discussion, but not sure there is anything new or enlightening here.
http://www.zdnet.com/ubuntu-linux-de...ic-7000012295/

[bsniadajewski]

I ran across this article this morning. Seems pertinent to this discussion, but not sure there is anything new or enlightening here.
http://www.zdnet.com/ubuntu-linux-de...ic-7000012295/

I just started a thread about that here. It definitely looks interesting to say the least.