[Savannah-hackers] Re: Question on usage of Savannah

[Loic Dachary]

Kurt Brauchli writes:
 > 
 > 
 > > ...
 > >         I see. And the video4linux kernel support cannot help you there ?
 > > Modules are missing or is it just the wrong solution ?
 > >
 > >  > About JAVA: is there a free software VM which is used with a
 > >  > webbroser to run JAVA Applets (I wouldn't know of any).
 > 
 > Make it work un Linux would not be a problem, but this part of the
 > software is for doctors (pathologists/radiologists) and if they
 > manage to do a little bit of compuetr works, it is on MSWin, and
 > they usually do not have linux or would not know how to install
 > it. So this part should be able run on Windows, that's the problem.

        I understand. What we really care about it not on which
platform the software ultimately runs. We care about the fact that it
can run at full capacity using a 100% Free Software operating system +
libraries (GNU/Linux being one of them).  If it is possible for people
to get support for non free software or to run it on a non free
software operating system, this is another subject.

        Savannah (and GNU specifically) supports efforts that are
available to the Free Software community. And non free software is not
available to this community, hence we do not want to support it. We
encourage people to focus on Free Software based solutions and to
leave non Free Software based solutions as a secondary option instead
of being the primary target.

        Once it is established that your software can run on a 100%
Free Software based system, would you be willing to make it the
default target ? It means promoting it in pages and documentation. If
you feel you're willing to do that but also want to support non free
software based implementation, clearly separating the two would be a
good step. Much in the same way as Debian separates the "contrib" and
"main" set of applications. It is important that people know if they
depend on non free software and that other people can make sure they
do *not* depend on non free software.

        Of course, I understand that all this is a burden and not
really related to technical matters ;-) It turns out that building
a world of Free Software requires such steps. If we're not carefull,
it may very well be the case that in a few years from now the GNU/Linux
operating system and Free Software applications will all need non free
software to run. Will it be Free Software then ? What kind of freedom
will we have if every step we make requires a non free software hidden
behind or inside our Free Software ? 

        To summarize, here is what is needed, Free Software-wise:
fully functional on GNU/Linux, support of non free software elements
as a secondary choice, Free Software being the default choice. 

 > But if the doctors depend on Linux they - at least for the moment -
 > depend on someone who can instal it for them. Sad but true.

        Nothing will prevent them to use your software on a non free
software operating system. One can do anything he likes with GNU GPL'ed
software ... except denying freedom to others.

        Cheers,

-- 
Loic   Dachary         http://www.dachary.org/  address@hidden
12 bd  Magenta         http://www.senga.org/      address@hidden
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