Jason Crain wrote: > > Such ads is displayed only when users have Internet connection, and there is > > no way to patch ZZZ in order to remove ads (or we have to buy "pro" version > > which doesn't contain ads and adds more features). > > If it's free software, meaning it is freely modifiable and > redistributable, how is there no "no way to patch ZZZ in order to remove > ads"?
Indeed, and I fully +1 all the other sentiments regarding privacy & network access etc., only sardonically adding that such advertisement are typically unspeakably unsightly and surely have no place in our distribution on those grounds alone. However, as a refinement — or perhaps to get the last remaining "extra credit" in this thread which appears to be reaching consensus — note that there are some licenses that ask you to redistribute changed copies under a different name. Thus depending on your definition of what ZZZ "is" (as well as how pedantic you are feeling at the time) there are indeed "soft" ways of having such a "no way to patch ZZZ" clause that «prima facie» appears to be non-free. Most notably from a Debian point of view would be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX_Project_Public_License#Unique_features_of_the_license Regards, -- ,''`. : :' : Chris Lamb `. `'` la...@debian.org 🍥 chris-lamb.co.uk `-