Re: SEUL: Free Enough?

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@omegacs.net>]

> 4) We end up duplicating some other efforts out there.  For example, are
> we going to write our own desktop environment?

No, we are not going to write our own desktop environment.  On the other 
hand, we will not use *anything* non-free as the basis for anything we 
ship.  We *cannot*.

The intent of SEUL, which the Core fits into nicely, is to provide a basis 
for end-users to construct machines that do what they want.  That means 
that we must be able to claim commercial applications.  This we cannot do 
unless there are no restrictions on any fundamental components.

Companies will not consider porting to Linux unless we remove all the
roadblock for them, and $5000 is a pretty hefty roadblock when any company
is considering porting to an environment that currently is only a few
percent of the market.  Yes, it's a lame excuse, but we're stuck in a 
Windoze-centric market, we have to play the game.


> An application need not be 100% free to be 'free enough' for SEUL.

I have no objections to shipping 90% free software with SEUL, but we have 
to be *extremely* careful about where we position this software.  Take the 
case of the terminal-based editor for instance: we cannot use pico unless 
the license is proven to be free enough, because if we make it a standard 
component, SEUL cannot be freely redistributed.  That's how you shoot 
yourself in the foot before you've left the gate (or mixed enough 
metaphors).

Because the Core and SEUL will be tied closely together, the 'values' of 
SEUL will be almost those of the Core.  The Core *MUST* be 100% free, for 
reasons that should be obvious to anyone who's bothered to follow the 
discussion this far.  Anything we layer on top of that (but *only* 
top-level layers) can be partially non-free if we want, but the defaults 
and fallbacks must all be free.


Yes, this topic is dead.  The above is how things will be.  I plan to put a 
document on the website explaining all the issues involved, with links and 
so on.  An official decision document will be posted as soon as that part 
of the website is built.  When that is posted, others may submit formal 
replies, but until then, let's drop this and concentrate on development.

TTYL,
    Omega

     Erik Walthinsen <omega@seul.org> - SEUL Project system architect
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       /  \                SEUL: Simple End-User Linux -
      |    | M E G A            Creating a Linux distribution
      _\  /_                         for the home or office user