Tim Cutts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> On 11 Dec 2004, at 11:16 pm, Josselin Mouette wrote:
>
>> Le samedi 11 décembre 2004 à 23:12 +0000, Tim Cutts a écrit :
>>> If Debian tries to be too rigid, we run a serious risk of consigning
>>> ourselves to history, because people just won't install Debian any
>>> more
>>> if it doesn't work out-of-the-box on most hardware - and the time is
>>> pretty much already here that most systems contain at least one
>>> component that loads firmware from disk every boot.
>>
>> "Most systems" ? Come on.
>
> I don't think it's the case today, but I think that it will be soon.
> It's the way the world is going.
Lets work against that then as Debian does.
>> Furthermore, compromising our ideals just to run on more hardware is
>> not
>> a good idea. When there are technical solutions to run Debian on this
>> hardware without such a compromise, this becomes completely stupid.
>
> But they are technical solutions that cause a great deal of effort for
> the user, and like meeting people, meeting a new distribution is very
> much a matter of first impressions counting. If the new user,
> especially a relatively non-computer-savvy one, finds that their shiny
> new Debian install doesn't work on their network card, they'll just
> try again with a different distro, or go back to Windows.
Then they just have to download the debian-installer-non-free cd
image. Big deal.
I'm sure that if this ever affects any reasonable number of people one
of them will put in the effort to create images with firmware next to
the 100% free images.
> I don't know what the answer is here, but I think this problem is
> likely to get more acute, and could seriously degrade Debian's ease of
> use -- which is already not something it has a fantastic reputation
> for -- and thereby its popularity.
>
> Tim
MfG
Goswin
