Some observations

[Dmitriy Kropivnitskiy]

>From what I understand, Ubuntu project is a political statement first
and user convenience second. I can definitely understand and sympathize
such a goal, but unfortunately it was not my initial  impression of the
project. I suppose I need to RTFM more before installing :) Due to this
stance of the development group, I will have to regretfully abandon
Ubuntu for a different distribution, that will give me a freedom of
using a non-free (either as in beer or as in speech) software at my
discretion without going into out of my way. I am not saying that adding
a couple of lines to sources.list is a difficult task, but as I said, my
initial impression of the project was, that such steps would not be
required for the system to work as I expect. I have not been running
windows for several years, and I do not expect system to act exactly
like Windows or any other particular OS (including multiple other
distributions I know), and I perfectly understand that certain features
I might have been used to might be implemented differently. But flat
refusal to accommodate basic user needs (such as MP3 and DVD playback)
without providing a valid alternative (such providing a working free
version of the software in question and/or giving user a choice to
easily install non-free version) together with lack of flexibility,
however honorable are the intentions is  not an acceptable combination
for my use of Linux. I believe that free and non free software and
technologies can coexist and one should not replace the other.

Good luck on the project, I will definitely check out Hoary when it
comes out.

I will stay signed up for the list for a couple of days in case someone
wants to add anything.

On Wed, 2004-12-01 at 13:07 -0500, jdodson wrote:
> you are right in that people do not want to get rid of the 40 gigs of
> music the currently posses.  however as far as i understand the ubuntu
> philosophy of creating a free OS as in freedom, then adding mp3
> playback is not an option(i could be interpreting that wrong, but i
> dont think i am).  check this site for information on mp3 patent and
> licensing issues:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3#Licensing_and_patent_issues
> 
> in the end i want people lives to be easy, however freedom is not
> always easy.  sometimes i dont understand why people would want an OS
> that does everything windows does, why not just use windows?  if a
> person does not care about being free the what is the point of
> switching?  i used to spend my time attempting to convert everyone to
> gnu/linux and then i stopped because of the futility.  i can describe
> to people my reality of using gnu/linux, but in the end they have to
> make the choice for themselves and take ownership of that choice. 
> switching to gnu/linux is not a knee jerk reaction, nor should it be
> forced.  i have seen both end in a reinstall of windows.  i think
> switching to a free OS starts with a change of browser and then a
> gradual migration of all non-free software to free windows/mac
> alternatives that are cross platform.  its much easier to make a
> gnu/linux transition if you are already used to the software.  plus
> understanding what you are doing, and what you are signing up for is
> good too(licensing issues, etc).  simply installing gnu/linux on
> someones machine for them and giving them "to the wolves" is not a very
> smart option..... i am going to stop now because i am writing too much:)
> 
> 
> -- 
> jdodson
>