User talk:Pravs/What Ubuntu should do to regain my confidence

From FOSS Community India

Hi Praveen, This is in response to: " It does not give importance to Freedom. "Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge." there is no guarantee that it will remain Free Software. On the contrary, they have clearly stated their willingness to include non-free softwares in their distribution."

I just went through the ubuntu site to find out their philosophy. Here it is. And here are the licensing terms. They should put this more prominantly though.

They clearly state:

Ubuntu "main" Component license Policy

All application software included in the Ubuntu main component:

• Must include source code. The main component has a strict and non-negotiable requirement that application software included in it must come with full source code.
• Must allow modification and distribution of modified copies under the same license. Just having the source code does not convey the same freedom as having the right to change it. Without the ability to modify software, the Ubuntu community cannot support software, fix bugs, translate it, or improve it.

Which is as good as Free Software.

Ubuntu does come with some non-free software, here's their explaination:

The purpose of the "restricted" component

The Ubuntu team recognises that many users have vital hardware in their computer that requires drivers that are currently only available in binary format. We urge all hardware vendors to insist that their suppliers provide open source drivers for their components, but we recognise that in some cases binary drivers are the only way to make your hardware work. As a result, Ubuntu includes several of these drivers on the CD and in the repository, clearly separated from the rest of the software by being placed in the restricted component.

Binary drivers are a poor choice, if you have a choice. Without source code, Ubuntu cannot support this software, we only provide it for users who require it to be able to run the Free Software we provide in main. Also, we cannot make binary drivers available on other architectures (such as the Mac or IPAQ) if we don't have the ability to port the software source code ourselves. If your hardware is fully supported with open source drivers you can simply remove the restricted component, and we would encourage you to do so.

This goes to say that if there is a choice Ubuntu will include only Free Software.

I agree with all your other points: LaunchPad should be made Free Software, They should call it GNU/Linux and the translations must respect upstream.

But it is also true that Ubuntu will change to Free Software once all the drivers are made free.

shashank 17:31, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] launchpad is open source

check launchpad blog

Launchpad is released in GNU Affero General Public license, version 3

So one of your point expires :P - Pavithran 13:53, 6 August 2009 (UTC)