Mike McCarty wrote:
Chris Lale wrote:
Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
On Sat, Apr 22, 2006 at 05:15:06PM -0500, Kent West wrote:
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.
Add me, too!
For me, an OS is a means to load applications. Debian was the
choice due to ease of install, ease of hardware detection,
and ease of making it work with some Windows machines.
The decision was based on running several LiveCD versions of
Linux, and picking Knoppix as the winner[1]. Since it is based
on Debian, Debian was the choice.
"Social contract" machts nichts here. In fact, for me, the
"social contract" aspect of all Linux distros is a drawback
to them. I don't want to "change the social order" or "be
the downfall of capitalism", or "kill MicroSoft" or any of
the other "social goals" so often associated with Linux. I
just want a cheap and reliable OS to load my apps. Unfortunately,
that means that getting support means wading through sometimes
annoying amounts of "social contract" trash to get to the good
stuff.
Mike, it appears you've never looked at Debian's 'social contract' [1].
It has nothing to do with bashing anything else (be it M$ or other
distributions). The key points to me are (my wording):
- Debian will remain 100% free
- Debian won't hide problems
- priorities are Debian's users and free software
another point not explicitly mentioned is stability and security.
I once couldn't read or view my old work after switching employer,
because I suddenly didn't have a licence for a certain program any more
and all work that was done with that program was more or less lost.
(Well, the lost part was not important enough to buy another licence.)
I think the social contract is either the cause or the consequence (or
both :=) for why Debian is so good!
Johannes
[1] http://www.de.debian.org/social_contract
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