On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 05:14:49PM +0100, Chris Lale wrote: > Andrew Sackville-West wrote: > > >On Sat, Apr 22, 2006 at 05:15:06PM -0500, Kent West wrote: > >>Kamaraju Kusumanchi wrote: > >>>On Saturday 22 April 2006 14:14, Steve Lamb wrote: > >>>Include my name in the list of "people for whom socila contract is the #1 > >>>point". I use debian because of its commitment to free software (which > >>>is part > >>>of social contract) not because it has apt or some other cool software. > >>> > >>>raju > >>> > >>Include my name in the list of "people for whom social contract is the > >>#1 point" also. When Debian ceases to be Free, then Debian ceases to > >>retain my loyalty. > >>-- > >>Kent > > > >1 more here. > > > >A > > > And another.
I don't think I am here primarily for the social contract. I'm definately not here for APT either. My current preference for Debian is its flexibility. I like the policy of providing mechanism without mandating how it is used. There are some things in Debian that are not quite as I like them, but I am more confident that I can tailor things in Debian without having the next update put be back where I started than I am with most of the commercial distributions. It is also important to have an active and knowledgeable user base where help can be found with problems. I didn't mind paying a fair price for a BSD system (with source) back in the days before free software - although I wasn't so keen on the idea of annual license fees or annual payments to get updates. And I didn't mind installing software in /usr/local from a tarball. I do like the convenience of being able to update the system online, and it is also nice to get the system for free and be able to share it. Probably the number one priority for me is open source, which if I understand correctly is a subset of the requirements of the Social Contract, by virtue of the Debian guidlines on what is meant by 'Free' (which involves more than 'as in beer').. If I had to choose, I would rather pay a fair price for software with source, than have a free binary. The details of any license are of course very important, but I think the Debian requirements are more stringent than mine. So long as I can do what I want to my own system, and am free to share the code that I write, then I don't insist on being able to share the code someone else has written. Regards, DigbyT -- Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com http://www.digbyt.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
