Fwd: [GNU/FSF Press] Press release: FSF announces release of gNewSense 1.0

[Derek Broughton]

Alexander Jacob Tsykin wrote:

> On Wednesday 08 November 2006 00:48, Shawn McMahon wrote:
>> On Tue, Nov 07, 2006 at 11:07:45AM +1100, Alexander Jacob Tsykin said:
>> > > Was Linux non-free before Linus' first upload?
>> >
>> > yes
>>
>> By that standard, every time you type "vi scriptname" and bang out
>> "#!/bin/bash" you're sitting there hoarding knowledge, you enemy of
>> freedom with your non-free script!
>>
>> Until it's distributed, get over it.
> You will never hear me say that non-free software is inherently evil. But,
> in any case, unless software is explicitly distributed under a free
> license, such as the GPL, it is non-free.

No.  It's not distributed.  That's not the same thing.  If it isn't
distributed, and you have a copy, it's _stolen_.  The whole question of
license freedom doesn't come up.
> 
> However, this argument is not terribly relevant to Launchpad because it is
> distributed. 

Distributed where?  "launchpad" is Ubuntu's app. It's not distributed.  It's
not _launchpad_ that's being distributed in the app.  It turns out that I
do still have launchpad-integration installed, but guess what?  The license
for launchpad-integration is GPL, so I'm right back to the original
question - what is this nonsense in the gNewSense announcement about
ripping out the non-free Launchpad?
-- 
derek