Ubuntu is not free.

[Derek Broughton]

lastexyle wrote:

> This "Free software only" ("free" meaning "GPL") mentality is exactly
> what's holding Linux back and keeping it off the desktops of everyone
> but enthusiasts. 

And, as always, my response is "so what".  Linux in general, and Ubuntu in
particular, is NOT actually about world domination.

> My complaint is that 
> Ubuntu doesn't include enough non-"free" software by default (I still
> have to go edit sources.list, and install some extra codecs to get
> playback for the most common audio and video formats).
> 
> Additionally, this attitude alienates developers of proprietary
> software which might otherwise have been ported to Linux, and you're a
> fool if you think this is a good thing.

Oh, I see - developers of proprietary software would like it to be ripped
off by Linux users!  The only way developers of proprietary software are
going to provide their software for a Linux distro is if either their
primary business is hardware, and the proprietary software is simply
drivers for the hardware (in which case, I think they're nuts to keep it
proprietary, but many corporations can't grasp that) or they're going to
make the Linux distro pay for the software.

> Some software, drivers, firmware, etc. will 
> always be non-"free" (non-GPL) and if the linux community can't work
> with that, then lots of people who don't have the time to learn, or
> simply aren't good with computers will be left out in the cold and will
> have to stick with Windows or OSX or at best buy something like Linspire

Yes, they will.  That's their choice - and it's not a _wrong_ choice.

> The great thing about Open source, is that because of it, there are
> different flavors availible. If you want to stick with only "free"
> (GPL) software, you can use one of those. Ubuntu doesn't fit under that
> category though; 

Uh, yes.  It does.

> I personally feel that that is much bigger than some petty 
> politics, 

I agree it's politics, but I completely disagree that it's petty.
-- 
derek