Voice of pragmatism:

Ubuntu allegedly uses the Firefox brand to gain users. What feedback has
been gained? In other words, how many users per year (ballparked, of
course) does Ubuntu expect to lose by dropping the "Firefox" name and
logo? Let's call this X.

As mentioned above, there is a huge cost in adding an EULA to free
software, as it ruins users' perceptions of free software. (I, for
instance, am horribly disillusioned and will be badmouthing Firefox for
the foreseeable future.) Can anyone quantify that cost (in lost current
and prospective users, say, or fractions of users' trust)? Let's call
this Y.

If X is greater than Y, there is a case for keeping the EULA. If X is
less than Y, we should rebrand Firefox (which, I assume, is a zero-cost
operation). If X is equal to Y (or close), then I, for one, advocate
rebranding Firefox simply to maintain Ubuntu's ideals.

If we do not know X or Y and cannot guess at them, then why not hold
with Ubuntu's ideals: the one concrete value we have? Rephrased for
emphasis: why add an EULA, which produces a proven negative effect (as
evidenced by the flurry of comments above), instead of rebranding, which
has (so far) no proven negative effect?

Ubuntu has greatly disappointed me in this example of pragmatism over
policy, especially because the Ubuntu community has not even been
offered evidence of any pragmatism whatsoever.

Meaning no offense, Mark, I ask for the sake of argument: what evidence
can you provide that including an EULA is good for Ubuntu?

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