On Thu, 2005-22-12 at 05:41 +0200, I. I. Ooisen wrote: > On Wednesday 21 December 2005 20:41, Cesare Marilungo wrote: > > > Please, don't get me wrong. But I actually fear the day in which > > gnu/Linux will have a wider success. Because I fear that this will > > heh, you spelled "linux" with capital "l" and "gnu" with lowercase... > > > happen only if gnu/Linux will abandon (or at least hide) its real > > strenghts and its real philosophy. Or worse it could finally become > > just another commercial o.s. > > read my lips: this can never happen. read my lips: proprietary kernel drivers. Go buy a recent video card and see how much this can "never" happen. How free is a system that can't DISPLAY VIDEO without proprietary software? Not very free at all. (Yes, yes, it's only 3D _for now_, but you get the point). Ditto for wireless adapters, though not quite as bad a situation. Is a system that can't even get on a network a useful one? Not in this century. The GPL protects a certain block of code from being made proprietary, but it does NOT protect the ability for us to create a truly free operating system, whatsoever. I think "just another commercial OS" would be a good description of a Linux system so bogged down with horrible proprietary crap (ie the same shining standard of quality that windows enjoys.. ahem) that it's unusable without it. OSX is composed of a lot of free software, but it's not even close to a "free software operating system". Translation: The war isn't over, and we aren't safe. :) -DR-
