An anonymous reader writes: Debian Project Secretary Kurt Roeckx has announced the results of a closely-watched vote on what statement would be made about Richard Stallman's readmission to the Free Software Foundation's board. Seven options were considered, with the Debian project's 420 voting d...
At the end of the day, you and me are not the ones who can solve this conflict, but RMS/FSF along with those who represent the victims and know of the abuse. They need to sit in a table together and actually talk about details, making sure the facts surrounding the matter are clear so specific actions can be taken.
We don’t know the details ourselves, and I think the main difference of opinion between us is when it comes to the different impressions we get when doing our “guesswork” on those details, which were left untold in the letter.
But these are just guesses and I cannot feel strongly for something that I do not have any strong evidence for me to judge how undeserved or deserved the accusations are. This is why I think the approach from Debian in this case here was appropriate, not pronouncing themselves towards any side until something more concrete resurfaces.
It would be great if the EFF takes a more active role in regards to Software Freedom and takes some of the load from the FSF.
There’s one historical detail that makes the FSF still being there kinda important: the FSF is the copyright holder assigned to a lot of free software projects.
I mean, that shouldn’t be a huge deal, since it’s all GPL after all… but the copyright holder is who has ultimatelly the power to enforce the license. Although I doubt that this will really become a problem.
Another, a more pressing one perhaps, is the “GNU GPL version x or any later version” statement of the license… it would be bad if the disinterest towards who is in control of the FSF (I believe the FSF is the license’s publisher) can result in unexpected new developments for future versions.
So I think the FSF still plays a role and it’d be better if it’s in good hands. But perhaps other organizations could take care of events or any specifics that might be more controversial for “The RMS Society” to get involved with. But this is why details need to be discussed… this is why it would have been better if the letter actually specified where, when and how did the problems happen.
Sorry for the late reply – the last week was a bit tiring and I didn’t feel able to give enough attention to a reply :)
I think you’re very right about it mostly coming down to perception. While I’d personally have wished for a more direct stance from Debian, I think I understand better now the ideas behind it. Thanks!
At least in Europe the EFF together with the Chaos Computer Club are quite successfully pushing for Free Software (and related issues). But they’re still getting there and obviously they didn’t want to “steal” the FSF topic from them. Although I guess this is what this will develop into, over long term.
I’m not good enough in anything wrt. law as to know whether this could be a problem, as this also depends very much on the country we’re talking about. But I agree that this is a minor issue.
Again, thanks for taking so much time for the discussion, it was really educating and helped me see other viewpoint(s)!