Re: New maintainer

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

jens.k.loewe@googlemail.com (Jens K. Loewe) writes:

> David Kastrup schrob am 04. Okt. 2015 um 23:34 Uhr dies:
>
>> Since there enough users who do not care one bit, you don't get one
>> without the other.  The playfield is tilted.
>
> I guess the FSF is in a position where they can shuffle the playfield
> if they'd want to.

Nonsense.  They can just level their corner.

>> Oh definitely.  And the GPL is restricting software to be used only
>> as a building piece for free software.  That's its sole point.
>
> So the actual point of this was that a GNU Emacs maintainer has to
> enforce software restrictions to users? That sounds wrong.

Shrug.  I don't see the point in providing a target for you letting you
twist words around.  You obviously have an agenda from which you don't
want to get deterred.  The GPL works by posing restrictions to the
manner in which software is subverted, and a GNU project maintainer is
expected to keep projects in a state where the GPL is effective in
ensuring software freedom.

This won't get better or worse by you trying to put absurd spins on it.

>> Look, Windows 10 contains keyloggers that record any key combinations
>> of you and send them to Redmond to "make your computing experience
>> more enjoyable".
>
> You might have missed it, but Windows 10 *actually asks you* if you
> want to enable this feature during the first set-up steps, so it's
> basically opt-in. People who propagate the right to choose should
> appreciate this IMO.

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.

>> People for whom such a system is a serious consideration do not care
>> about freedom one bit.
>
> I still don't think I don't care about freedom. I might repeat myself:
> I am an active contributor to and user of some FLOSS projects
> (including some you might know), I just happen to have the /perfect/
> workflow on Windows.

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.

> Don't condemn me for wishing to use a tool (my computer) as a tool and
> not as a church.

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.

>> If you can read through all that and wholeheartedly state "I agree",
>> then we don't have anything to offer, really.
>
> How many people have read Canonical's terms of service in the first
> place?

Uh, there's not all that much in there if you don't actually enter
service contracts.  Their contributor agreements are more on the
debatable side, but they don't concern end user freedom all that much.

>> The best vegetarian dinner is a sideplate to a juicy steak, do you
>> agree?
>
> I like steak, so no complaints on this point... ;-)

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?

-- 
David Kastrup