The current debian-installer is much more automated and straightforward than the old one. People have heard "Debian is hard to install" years ago when it was actually true, and they haven't checked back to find that it's not true anymore.Also, Debian's install isn't graphical; it's text-based, the same thing you see on Ubuntu's "alternate" disc. (The most recent Debian release has a graphical mode available, but it's not enabled by default.) Some people are intimidated by anything that's not graphical, though, so they still say Debian is hard to install just because they see it uses text mode. (Linus, of course, is not one of these people.)
Why is it that the FSF seems so dead-set against Linus' freedom to disagree with them? I believe that it's that they are a political group disguised as a software one. There's a lot of zealots out there nowadays who want to gurantee one "freedom" at the expense of every other freedom people have, which results in nobody having any real freedom of choice. The FSF are dyed in the wool socialists philosophically, and care so much about end users' absolute freedom that their position is that it's okay to trample the developers' rights to distribute their own code as they see fit, or what use it can be put to. Microsoft and proprietary software companies for the most part are captitalist/mercantalist in nature, and will trample the end user any way they see fit to maximize their rights. Linus is somewhere in between, more or less a pragmatist and libertarian in nature. More or less a "live and let live" mentality where he doesn't care how the code is used, just so long as the modifciations come back upstream. It's this basic philosophical difference that separates Linus from Stallman. GPL2 was more-or-less a perfect fit for Linus' view, and GPL3 is closer to Stallman's. (And... an MS Eula is god-awful).
quote "I really don’t care. You’re asking all these marketing and company questions, and the thing is, I’m not at all into it. I’m totally uninterested. What I’m into is the technology, and working together with people."This isn't a reason to turn a blind eye on the subject.
Yep this is also the year where you can email the questionnaires and have them sent back. It kinda save you time and money from travelling. Even better, chat rooms or MSN allows it to be interactive !!!!
it's a legal document that's meant for programmers to use and therefore understand, so I think it would be beneficial to make sure programmers can understand it? I mean if we don't and use it couldn't that be more detrimental than anything? Or what if people don't use it because they can't understand it? All I was saying the GPL v2 was written for programmers to understand this one isn't which scares me to an extent. And your second point really doesn't change the nonsensical nature of it, they are still limiting your freedom to ensure freedom? doesn't make sense to me. In fact it draws a stark resemblance to the patriot act in my mind. It's not like I'm the first to think this, and also just for help in the future when talking about a topic, even if you disagree with someone, a little tact goes a long way.
Exactly. I can't believe Linus finds Debian difficult to install. He can hack the Linux kernel but he can't press yes until the Debian installer ends. He obviously never tried it.Should we ship him a net-install cd? :)
lengauJul 17, 2007
Aye!
wyzardJul 17, 2007
The current debian-installer is much more automated and straightforward than the old one. People have heard "Debian is hard to install" years ago when it was actually true, and they haven't checked back to find that it's not true anymore.Also, Debian's install isn't graphical; it's text-based, the same thing you see on Ubuntu's "alternate" disc. (The most recent Debian release has a graphical mode available, but it's not enabled by default.) Some people are intimidated by anything that's not graphical, though, so they still say Debian is hard to install just because they see it uses text mode. (Linus, of course, is not one of these people.)
maz2331Jul 17, 2007
Why is it that the FSF seems so dead-set against Linus' freedom to disagree with them? I believe that it's that they are a political group disguised as a software one. There's a lot of zealots out there nowadays who want to gurantee one "freedom" at the expense of every other freedom people have, which results in nobody having any real freedom of choice. The FSF are dyed in the wool socialists philosophically, and care so much about end users' absolute freedom that their position is that it's okay to trample the developers' rights to distribute their own code as they see fit, or what use it can be put to. Microsoft and proprietary software companies for the most part are captitalist/mercantalist in nature, and will trample the end user any way they see fit to maximize their rights. Linus is somewhere in between, more or less a pragmatist and libertarian in nature. More or less a "live and let live" mentality where he doesn't care how the code is used, just so long as the modifciations come back upstream. It's this basic philosophical difference that separates Linus from Stallman. GPL2 was more-or-less a perfect fit for Linus' view, and GPL3 is closer to Stallman's. (And... an MS Eula is god-awful).
Closed AccountJul 18, 2007
quote "I really don’t care. You’re asking all these marketing and company questions, and the thing is, I’m not at all into it. I’m totally uninterested. What I’m into is the technology, and working together with people."This isn't a reason to turn a blind eye on the subject.
daftmanJul 18, 2007
Yep this is also the year where you can email the questionnaires and have them sent back. It kinda save you time and money from travelling. Even better, chat rooms or MSN allows it to be interactive !!!!
mtthwmiddletonJul 18, 2007
it's a legal document that's meant for programmers to use and therefore understand, so I think it would be beneficial to make sure programmers can understand it? I mean if we don't and use it couldn't that be more detrimental than anything? Or what if people don't use it because they can't understand it? All I was saying the GPL v2 was written for programmers to understand this one isn't which scares me to an extent. And your second point really doesn't change the nonsensical nature of it, they are still limiting your freedom to ensure freedom? doesn't make sense to me. In fact it draws a stark resemblance to the patriot act in my mind. It's not like I'm the first to think this, and also just for help in the future when talking about a topic, even if you disagree with someone, a little tact goes a long way.
jdriveinJul 19, 2007
Exactly. I can't believe Linus finds Debian difficult to install. He can hack the Linux kernel but he can't press yes until the Debian installer ends. He obviously never tried it.Should we ship him a net-install cd? :)