[Mageia-discuss] Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250

Tue Jun 7 21:08:36 CEST 2011

On 6/7/11, Michael Scherer <misc at zarb.org> wrote:
+
+>
+> There is lots of firmware that cannot even be distributed. Of course, we
+> could do like Canonical and just pretend laws do not exist :
+> http://fasmz.org/~pterjan/blog/?date=20090423 , s this clearly annoy
+> users...
+>
+Here's how I understand the argument. There are three scenarios:
+1-Software is licensed to allow distribution.
+2-Software license specirfically prohibits distribution.
+3-Software license is undetermined.
+
+So this means that:
+1-OK. Distribute if possible per the terms of the license.
+2-Software should not be distributed. Interested parties in the
+community may work towards a license change if they desire.
+3-It's the responsibiltyof the copyright holder to enforce their
+rights. Group A says that all such sofware should not be distributed
+until license staus can be determined. Group B says to distribute
+software until copyright holder complains; no complaint equals implied
+permission to distribute. Again, interested parties in the community
+may work towards a license change if they desire.
+
+All those arguments are separate from "just works" for the Mageia
+user. The people with solid Linux expertise (such as those that lead
+the Mageia community) are aware of license issues for software, are
+aware of those hardware devices that are not supported (for various
+reasons) under Linux and make their decisions accordingly. They
+understand why some hardware doesn't "just work". They check before
+they purchase or they write their own software to make teh hardware
+work.
+
+The rest of the universe of Linux users are unaware of such issues or
+don't care (not everyone can be RMS). They want Mageia to "just work".
+They will blame Mageia, not the hardware manufacturer, not the
+software copyright holder, not Linus Torvalds, not Richard Stallman
+nor Ubuntu/Canonical/Shuttleworth.
+
+What makes the situation worse is that Ubuntu blatantly rejects a
+"pure", follow-the-license-strictly approach in order to provide their
+version of "just works". That makes everybody else look bad and puts
+an unjust burden on those who follow a stricter guideline who must
+bear the brunt of undeserved criticsm.
+
+The question is how will Mageia balance the need for "just works" with
+the desire to honor copyrights and engage only in legal software
+distribution? This is made more complex because those rights and
+copyright laws are not equal everywhere in the world.
+
+I would support a stricter interpretation of the distribution of those
+softwares when coupled with improved education of the user. In my
+opinion, Canonical is doing the larger community a disservice.
+
+-- 
+Hoyt
+