Re: One other question for the candidates

[Vincent Untz <vuntz gnome org>]

Hi Richard,

Le mardi 09 juin 2009, à 22:34 -0400, Richard Stallman a écrit :
> Here's a question that I would like the candidates to answer.
> 
> What do you think GNOME should do to support the
> broader cause of free/libre software,
> and the freedom of computer users?

I'll skip the part where I say we should keep rocking on making our
software (which plays an essential role for computer users, since we're
making a desktop with good accessibility, localization, usability,
etc.). We also try to support other groups doing software whenever we
can (the Foundation is sponsoring the Libre Graphics Meeting, eg).

I think it's quite important to note that the GNOME Foundation is mainly
an organization about free software, where freedom is essential, but
where our "talent" is still software. So what does that mean for me?
We're leading (or trying to lead) on the stuff we know how to do
(software, specifications, etc.), and that's where we focus our energy.

It'd be great to also be able to promote and defend freedom in other
ways, but we can't afford to focus our efforts on that, so we're not
leading there. (I'd love if we were able to do so, though, but it's not
reasonable) It doesn't mean we can't support efforts done by other
organizations or individuals, though, quite the contrary: I think we're
willing to support efforts there.

Oh, and something I like in these web days is what the tomboy people are
doing with Snowy [1]: a real free web application for Tomboy Online.
Coming to think about it, I guess it'd be nice to have the Foundation
endorse the Franklin Street Statement [2]. That wouldn't mean that we
shouldn't support non-free web services, since we obviously want users
to be able to access their data wherever it is. But we should encourage
free services when possible.

Vincent

[1] http://live.gnome.org/Snowy
[2] http://autonomo.us/2008/07/franklin-street-statement/

-- 
Les gens heureux ne sont pas pressés.