Re: Question for candidates

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Fri, 2011-05-27 at 16:34 -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
> I'd like to ask the candidates this question:
> 
> * What do you think GNOME should do to help promote the ideals of free
> software, beyond being composed of free programs.

Hi Richard,

I want to echo something from my candidacy statement:

  We need more web integration, but at the same time, we need
  to continue to protect our users' freedoms.

You wrote in an earlier email that people should think carefully
about using an Internet service, that some services could pose
ethical problems.

There are a lot of practical benefits to integrating with web
services. It's clearly something users want, and we want to
make software that makes our users happy. But in doing so, I
think we have an obligation to make sure GNOME doesn't just
become a free window to a world of proprietary software, data
hording, and vendor lock-in.

We should work with other organizations to pressure service
providers to guarantee users full access to their data and to
provide services using open formats that can be implemented by
free software. Even if service providers are running entirely
free software, they could still be hording users' data.

I realize that this is, strictly speaking, not a free software
issue. But it's a real problem that we will only see more of in
the future, and I think what I've talked about is in line with
the ideals behind the free software movement.

Thanks,
Shaun