> "Banshee is mono based, and we do not include mono."
> 
> Tell me, what is the difference between including a mono application
> in the default install and including one in the main repository?
> Either way, they're both a part of the distro. This also applies to
> F-Spot.

Easy: mono wastes 12mb of the CD.

> This is a tricky issue. I'm going to write an e-mail to Richard
> Stallman about whether or not a free distro can include mono apps.

Mono is a free implementation of .NET, so it is not a problem to
distribute it. The problem with .NET is that it is covered by MS
patents, so they can force us to stop using it when they wish -at least
in the US-. That is a risk we should avoid, and removing mono from the
default installation is a way to tell the developers that something is
wrong with the platform. But there is nothing non-free in those programs
as they are, so we can distribute them -as long as we are allowed to-.

> "With 42 pixels the window list is two rows high, saving space."
> 
> It saves horizontal space, I agree, but I don't think very many
> people intuitively use a panel that way in the first place.

Even less people uses the GNOME default two panel -same height-
combination because is intuitive. They do because it is the default
and somewhat cool because it looks weird.
 
> "> Things are more likely to malfunction in a Free distro
> 
> Why?"
> 
> I was going to say: 'Because the lack of nonfree blobs and any
> proprietary firmware means less hardware compatibility', but I think
> there's actually a much better practical reason to include the
> terminal icon on the panel.

Luky you didn't say it, because I would have said that nonfree stuff is
a lot more prone to failure as we cannot fix the bugs in a program we
cannot modify. And if a piece of hardware has no free driver, the only
thing you can do with the console is start typing a new driver.

> Many novice GNU/Linux users have no familiarity with the concept of
> a terminal. Despite the wonders Canonical has done to make GNU/Linux
> a first-rate choice for desktops, most users are going to find
> themselves using the command line sooner or later for some function
> that simply has no GUI equivalent,

That would be an advanced function, so it will be meant for
non-novices, people who can navigate a menu.

> and most tutorials automatically
> assume you at least know what a terminal is; having the icon there
> tells the novice user that 

...GNU/Linux is a hard and scary OS for geeks.

> A.) This is important and B.) When
> tutorials tell you to "type this in a console", this is what they're
> talking about.

Whoever doesn't know what the terminal is shouldn't be tinkering with
it using tutorials that say "sudo something_important --with-a-hammer"
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