Codeina and how to proceed

[Karsten 'quaid' Wade]

On Mon, 2008-03-17 at 18:20 -0400, Luis Villa wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 5:49 PM, Paul W. Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
> >  [4] http://gregdek.livejournal.com/24120.html
> 
> For what it is worth, I agree with Greg[3]. We know that the mp3
> patents are problematic in both the US[1] and Europe[2] and create
> restrictions that make mp3s non-free. Either say the mp3 stuff is
> non-free and drop it as well as the others, or allow them all. The
> middle way is a poor compromise and I'm surprised the board went that
> direction.

Summary:  "If one person is enslaved, none of us are free" ?

I'm not against that philosophy.  I just wonder how much we want to be
lead by it when it lets others lead us.  What happens when
Reallybigistan outlaws free and open source software?  Is no software
truly free until we defeat their law?

Yes, software patents are bad.  Yes, other countries than the US are
having or about to have problems with software patents.  But there is a
measurable body of Fedora users and contributors who do not live in
Reallybigistan.  What are they to do because the rest of us live under
onerous laws?

That is the best I can explain why I voted for a "poor compromise."  I'd
much rather vote my conscious and yank what is not-free-to-me, but am I
being fair to the rest of the community?  I have a conscious about
fairness, too.

- Karsten

> Luis
> 
> [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/technology/05music.html
> [2] http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9887955-7.html
> 
> [3] key section:
> 
> "If we're going to basically take the convenience of MP3 that Fluendo
> provides because we *can*, but then not provide Fluendo with *any*
> upsell opportunities, then we're basically ripping off Fluendo's good
> will to make ourselves feel better about our "user experience".
> 
> If the Board has decided that they don't want to point to any
> "non-free software" at all -- which is a fine stance to take, by the
> way -- then remove Codeina entirely. Either have the courage to say
> "we don't encourage any non-free software at all," or have the courage
> to say "we support your right to choose non-free software, so long as
> you obtain it legally, and here's how." Because the current poor
> compromise seems to be the worst of both worlds."
> 
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-- 
Karsten Wade, Developer Community Mgr.
Dev Fu : http://developer.redhatmagazine.com
Fedora : http://quaid.fedorapeople.org
gpg key : AD0E0C41
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