Re: New maintainer

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Jens K. Loewe <address@hidden> writes:

>> The issue here was actually MacOSX, resulting in a reminder of the rule
>> that no functionality is to be introduced for non-free operating systems
>> that is not available for GNU/Linux.
>
> Which is a pretty OK rule, I just wanted you to consider that having a
> "broken by design" Windows or OSX version of a GNU tool will rather make
> people drop the tool than their operating system.

Just a data point: the frustrating experience of using Emacs on MacOS
has resulted in many complaints from a user about ... MacOS.  The user
is considering to move to a system that doesn’t arbitrarily restrict
freedom to the degree that it is done on MacOS.

(This is in the context of the world of bioinformatics, in which Windows
is hardly important, Macs are often used and complained about, and GNU
is the system that is actually supported by the local IT department.)

A tool is hardly “broken by design” when it works better on a particular
kind of system.  I rather think that it is a matter of degree: if the
tool is hardly usable at all, it probably would be dropped without a
second thought; if it can be used, even if not to the full extent as it
is useful on a free system, it can be enough to tip the scales in favour
of the free system.

~~ vegetarian Ricardo