Benj. Mako Hill mako at ubuntu.com
Mon Nov 21 10:33:28 CST 2005


<quote who="John" date="Mon, Nov 21, 2005 at 09:12:28AM +0800">
> Look at all the non-free stuff in /lib/hotplug/firmware. I have 88 files 
> in there and I know for certain some are non-free, so clearly non-free 
> isn't the issue.

Non-free firmware and drivers are in restricted. If you'd like to put
Sun Java in there, you'll need to convince us that a J2RE is either
firmware or drivers.

The other option is multiverse but we still need permission to
package and redistribute it. We don't currently have that.

It's true, we might be able to sign some deal with Sun to redistribute
Java but the Ubuntu project very early on took a principled position
that we would not sign deals that gave *us* freedom but did not allow
us to transfer these down to our users or our derivatives.

That means Sun Java is out under the current licensing regime.  You
are free to disagree with our decision or to think that our principled
position is inconvenient and wrong and you wouldn't be alone in
thinking that. You're also welcome to try to change our minds. But
first you need to recognize that this decision is not rooted in some
sort of antagonism from our users -- this inconveniences *all* of us.

> Users will use what's easiest to use, and Ubuntu isn't as easy as it 
> could be.

Under this logic, we might as well just give up and point people to
Microsoft Windows.

Ubuntu's goal is to serve its users. But to do so while and through
giving them freedom as defined by our philosophy. There will be
disagreement on how this balancing act is done and there will not
always be consensus. I suspect this may be one of those times.

Regards,
Mako

-- 
Benjamin Mako Hill
mako at ubuntu.com
http://mako.cc

Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so
far as society is free to use the results. --RMS



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