Re: [gNewSense-users] gobuntu or gnewsense?

[Dave Crossland]

On 26/07/07, Chris Andrew <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> To clarify my concerns; I am a little worried that the two distros have
> similar (if not the same (perhaps any diff could be clarified)) aims.

There was a thread about this on the gobuntu list:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gobuntu-devel/2007-July/000035.html

> From a personal perspective, I need to know what the difference between the
> two objectives is, so that I and others can make a concerted effort on
> whatever distro is closest to a personal preference.

All in my opinion, could very well be wrong, but hope to help:

Gobuntu will be used as a 'stooge' distro -
http://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/taking-freedom-further - so
Canonical can put more proprietary stuff in the main Ubuntu while
providing an up-to-date and fully-free distro for those who want it
and who look to them for guidance, and Canonical can point at Gobuntu
to appease critics who value freedom above convenience,

Recommending Gobuntu to people is questionable, since it recommends
main Ubuntu and Canonical implicitly. This is partly why the FSF
declined the name "Gnubuntu." Also, the FSF/GNU Project does not do
its own distribution because all GNU/Linux distributions are GNU (plus
Linux) and if there was "_a_ GNU distro" that might work against the
promotion of that fact; we can imagine "Oh no, this distro is Linux,
not GNU, because GNU is $fsf-or-gnu-distro" type comments... and the
GNUbuntu name would contribute to that.

So, independent of the FSF and GNU Project but with the help of the
FSF (server & hosting to make it possible) the gNewSense distribution
take a popular distro and makes it fully free, without directly
endorsing or referencing the upstream disto. Therefore it is possible
to recommend gNewSense to new users, safe in the knowledge that it
will not recommend to them to install proprietary software or promote
the idea that proprietary software is okay.

gNewSense could be built off a more user-friendly distribution in the
future - Novell seems to be putting at least as much effort into the
desktop as Canonical, and Red Hat are keeping up with the new
competition too. If Fedora is listed on the GNU project's recommended
distros list - very possible, given
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FreeSoftwareAnalysis/FSF - this seems
quite possible.

Until then, to contribute to the development of gNewSense in the short
term, help with the package checking, and long term, contribute to
Gobuntu and help with the gNewSense artwork when its asked for by the
project leads.

I installed Gobuntu this week, and it appears to use the regular gusty
apt repo, so as soon as you upgrade, the gobuntu stuff evaporates...
Hmm...

-- 
Regards,
Dave