Re: New maintainer

[Jens K. Loewe]

David Kastrup schrob am 05. Okt. 2015 um 01:20 Uhr dies:

> Nonsense.  They can just level their corner.

They have a loyal fanbase though. (Don't take this word too seriously
please.)

> You obviously have an agenda from which you don't want to get
> deterred.

My so-called "agenda" is to try to understand what I /might/ have got
wrong in order to be able to keep up with the discussions. I just don't
consider something -- not even "this or that is freedom" -- to be right
just because someone said so. Sorry.

> a GNU project maintainer is expected to keep projects in a state where
> the GPL is effective in ensuring software freedom.

Which, again, is OK and perfectly understandable for me.

> You might have missed it, but Windows 10 goes ahead nevertheless.  So
> far testers have not been able to find any settings that would not
> send a continuous string of data related to keypresses to Microsoft
> servers.

Yes, I have missed that yet. Thank you.

> Perfect means that there is nothing wrong with it for you, so "do not
> care about freedom one bit" seems to be a pretty good description.

This is the difference between using a computer as a tool and using a
computer as a church again. I know that Windows does not let me have all
the freedom I could want to (this is one of the reasons why I own other
machines with other operating systems too), it's just that I, sometimes,
don't need to have (e.g.) a way to patch my Windows kernel. Sometimes I
just want to use it as it was meant to be used.

I'd happily drop Windows when someone invents a free operating system
which provides adequate alternatives to the proprietary software I use.

> I don't condemn you.  I state that you don't care for freedom one bit.
> And you state that perfection for you does not involve freedom.  And
> that people for which this is different are using their computer as a
> church.  Which presumably is something bad.

Well, yes. A computer is a tool to me, like a hammer is a tool. I use a
hammer to drive a nail into the wall, I use a computer to communicate
with people (in a couple of ways, admittedly). When I need something to
drive a nail into a wall, it does not matter much to me if I can replace
its head with a different head as long as it gets its task done.

It's still wrong that I don't care for freedom, I'm just skeptical about
enforcing freedom as /enforcing/ is quite the opposite of
/freeing/. But, again, that does not mean that I come with the "wrong
mind". My personal choice of software is a result of my freedom to
choose, and you won't ever see my advocating a closed system unless for
a very good reason.

> But you do understand that you have to leave that preference at home
> when you agree to organize a vegetarian fair or you'll be the wrong
> person for the job?

Yes, of course. I never said I wouldn't. However, as of now, I'm here as
a non-representative user, so everything I write is not a part of a
job. If a job involved advocating the GPL, I'd follow the rules.

JKL


-- 
I could contain traces of nuts.