GPL'd Flash Library

[Thibaut VARENE]

On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 19:22:39 -0400
Tim Schmidt <timschmidt at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just wondering if anyone's checked out the GPL'd flash library at
> http://www.swift-tools.net/Flash/ ?
> 
> It appears to be not 100% working, however, since it's a stated goal
> of Ubuntu to be a 100% free distribution, I think many people

Are you talking about Debian there? I couldn't find such a statement on
Ubuntu website.

> (including myself) would prefer a mostly-working free and
> pre-installed flash library as opposed to a 100% working non-free and
> PITA to install flash library.  Of course, users who need the non-free
> flash can always just un-install the free version...  It only adds one
> step to the non-free use case and saves quite a few for the free use
> case.
> 
> Any comments?  Plans?

I disagree.

As an end user who wants a working system without bothering to
workaround "this work in this and that case, but not in this other
special one"-type of software, I do prefer a 100% working and
transparently installed non-free software that does *what I want it to
do* as opposed to the above mentionned half-working software.

The reason is simple: I'm a user, not a hacker, and I want _working
stuff_. It's the role of the developers (us) to make the half-working
software a decent replacement to the non-free one. It's not the role of
the user to suffer from choices developers make on behalf of their
position WRT non-free software.

I thought that the Ubuntu community was less narrow-minded about that
than some other I belong to. :^P

Users aren't beta testers, by the way.

HTH,

Thibaut VARENE
The PA/Linux ESIEE Team
http://www.pateam.org/