Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Talking about non-free software on the list

[Bob Ham]

On Thu, 2013-03-21 at 14:34 +0000, MJ Ray wrote:
> Bob Ham <address@hidden>
> > On Wed, 2013-03-20 at 19:12 +0000, MJ Ray wrote:
> > > Quiliro Ordóñez wrote:
> > > > By the way of your reasoning, would it be OK to explain how to edit the
> > > > registry of Microsoft Windows on Debian as long as it was installed in a
> > > > VirtualBox instance?
> > 
> > > why not, if it's necessary to get/change something
> > > there to make Debian work?
> > 
> > Suppose there are two pieces of software, A and B.  If A depends on B
> > and B is non-free then A is not free.
> 
> Like the saying goes: for every problem, there is a solution that is
> simple, plausible AND WRONG.
> 
> Suppose there is a piece of hardware with two pieces of software, MS
> and D.  If MS is non-free and D cannot run on that hardware until MS
> is used to change some setting back, is D free or not?

If D can run on other hardware without MS being used, D is free.

If D cannot run on any hardware until MS is used, D is not free.

-- 
Bob Ham <address@hidden>

for (;;) { ++pancakes; }

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