Preamble: I have been happily using RPM Fusion ever since Livna
gave up the ghost. Until recently, the old saying held true, that
happy customers are quiet customers. Alas, I have two issues, the
one engendered by the other.
1. I tried e-mailing this list w/o subscribing as your web page seems
to indicate that this should work, but my e-mail was rejected. Perhaps
a slight wording change might be in order?
2. LightSpark arriving clandestinely:
Recently, I noticed that Flash was no longer playing properly on my
Fedora 14 system. I was really surprised by this. Indeed, the thought
even crossed my mind that perhaps I had somehow picked up a rare Linux
virus. Alas, I figured it out: when I last *UPDATED* my system,
yum/rpmfusion decided that I needed the LightSpark package despite the
fact that:
1. I already had a working Flash player thanks to Adobe.
2. I was happy with Adobe Flash (although, I'm not a big flash fan)
3. I had not *chosen* this package for installation; it merely decided
to piggy back on some of the legitimate updates that were made to my
system thanks to the built-in package updater applet.
I realize, especially on the Debian front, that there are folks who
will gladly replace great, free, but proprietary software with alpha
grade FOSS. I am not such a person.
Furthermore, I realize that Linux is all about choice. But, the issue
here is that I did *NOT* choose to have LightSpark installed. It was
hidden with some *updates*, and its settings forced itself to override
my existing Flash player. As such, this action:
1. violated the programming "Principle of Least Surprise".
2. violated my right to choose.
3. replaced a very good program with an alpha (perhaps Beta) grade
software.
All three results are unacceptable.
I assumed that the RPMFusion folks were to blame for this since the
LightSpark package arrived from that depot, hence this letter. If I
have erred in my blame, then I would appreciate a kind redirection to
the proper authority.
Thank you. (Trolls will be ignored.)
[email protected]
