[task #15731] Submission of Davis Remmel

[Amin Bandali]

Follow-up Comment #14, task #15731 (project administration):

Hi Davis, Ineiev,

I'm hoping we can deescalate the atmosphere here a bit.  The situation
may be nuanced, but I think it helps to remember that we are all on the
same "side" here, trying to advance user freedom.

[comment #11 comment #11:]
> Hi Bandali,
> 
> Nice to meet you again--I believe we co-moderated the IRC channels at
> LibrePlanet.
> 

Nice re-meeting you too!  I was trying to remember where I'd seen your
username. :-)

> 
> Yes, Debian runs with only the free repositories. But, I can see you
> guys really want a 'certified free' distro. Although I object to such
> a thing because certifications are not what makes software free, and
> it isn't specified in the hosting rules, I will do the needful and get
> one of those running on the tablet so that it cannot be a point of
> contention.
> 

Great!  To my understanding, Debian without its `non-free` repo enabled
is a fully free operating system and there is no concern w.r.t. RCU.

To be clear, I was *not* suggesting that you *must* be able to run a
currently endorsed distro on the tablet for your RCU submission to be
valid.  I asked that to nudge us towards addressing Ineiev's questions
or concerns, and help move this ticket forward.

> 
> Ineiev: once I do that, what other objections will you have with my
> project?
> 
> Thanks,
> Davis


Ineiev,

[comment #12 comment #12:]
> I think one more question is relevant: does any noticeable number of
> people use that free distro on that tablet? Do you always or nearly
> always use it on your tablets yourself?
> 
> If not, we may suggest that your work with that free distro on the
> tablet is more of academical than practical value, and this package
> would essentially support proprietary software.
>

I think these are good questions to consider, and food for thought, but
they should not be a deciding factor on this registration application.
For what it's worth, Davis has done (arguably more than) his fair share
by demonstrating and documenting how to run a free operating system on
the tablet (if the original one is nonfree) on his site at
<http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/>, so now anyone
seeking freedom on the tablet may have it.

I believe it is precisely through supporting the development of projects
like RCU that one can help grow the userbase of free software users on
such a device.  RCU itself not only runs on a free operating system, but
also talks to a device that can run a free operating system.  We should
work to encourage its development and potentially the development of
other similar packages so that people can do more and more in freedom.

In other words, it seems to me that the necessary foundation is there,
and now we all have to help build a good structure on top of it.

> 
> By the way, I don't think it matters very much whether the users
> install proprietary software themselves or someone else pre-installs
> it for them: what's wrong is that people use proprietary software.

People using proprietary software *is* bad, but certainly not RCU's
fault.  RCU itself is free, runs on a free operating system, and talks
to free software on another device, and does not put free software users
of the tablet at a disadvantage.  In other words, it satisfies the "No
dependencies on nonfree software" as outlined on the Savannah hosting
requirements.


Cheers,
bandali

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