Bradley Kuhn on switching back from Ubuntu to Debian

[Ted Smith]

On Sat, 2010-01-16 at 08:22 -0500, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
> On Fri, 2010-01-15 at 22:13 -0800, Aaron C. de Bruyn wrote:
> > On 2010-01-16 at 18:38:05 +1300, Dustin Kirkland wrote:
> > > Ubuntu One is no different to me, than using Yahoo Search, Gmail, or
> > > Facebook.  The client I use to access these service (firefox or
> > 
> > And when was the last time Yahoo Search, Gmail, or Facebook popped up
> > an icon in your 'systray'?  When were they last integrated into
> > the Nautilus right-click menu?
> 
> Well, it may not be in the notification area (which I guess is what
> you're calling the 'systray'), but how about the following, which are
> installed by default:
> 
> - GNOME clock and the weather applet, which is by default get their
> weather data from services for which the source code may not be
> available
> - Invest applet gets stock information from Yahoo, for which the source
> may not be available
> 
The issue isn't communicating with servers running non-free software.
The issue is non-free network services. These are services which the
user makes a significant time and data investment in, making the service
much more than a source of information.

Google's search engine is not a network service by default, it's just a
web site. Once you log into your google account and configure your
search results, it is.

Reading someone's finger isn't a network service. You're just
downloading data. Signing into your twitter account and following that
person is.

> How about all the search providers which come pre-configured in firefox?
> 
Are they websites, or services?
> How about totem that has YouTube and BBC integration?
> 
This is certainly sub-optimal, and one of the reasons I'm dissatisfied
with Ubuntu. If YouTube was right below tinyvid.tv or tinyogg or other
free network service video sharing sites, I'd be much less dissatisfied
as a freedom-seeking user.

> And of course, F-Spot, which can upload pictures to Flickr, Picasaweb...
> 
This is also sub-optimal, but not something I personally care about,
because I don't use F-Spot, and recommend not using it. Were it another
program, I would certainly hope that there would be free alternatives.

This is the wrong place to request these features. As of now, I don't
expect Canonical to have any interest in promoting free network services
in Ubuntu's default software. That's something I would expect more from
gNewSense or Trisquel. If they implement these freedom features, I would
expect Ubuntu to integrate them, though.

Also, I'm unsure as to whether Canonical is the entity implementing this
integration, or if it's just upstream. The main reason I posted that
identi.ca note was that I have increasingly seen Canonical integrate
Ubuntu with non-free software or network services, like Ubuntu One, and
recently the poll in the forums asking which non-free programs would be
appreciated in the Software Store^WCenter. These actions are deeply
disturbing, because I've used Ubuntu for years and loved it dearly, and
would hate leaving it.
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