Re: [Phpgroupware-developers] The GIF issue

[/\Angles\/]

I'm generally too busy to concern myself with these side issues, however once 
again
I'd like to thank Milosh for saying what's on his mind, without "moderating 
down".

Cool dude...

Oh yea, my (generic term) girl friend says we should rename all .gif files to 
.zif,
then have a auto-script rename them back to *.gif when the user installs.

At first I simply appreaiated the comic value of this, but then I thought some 
more...

Technically, what is a gif file? Stripped of it's all powerful extension, it is
nothing, no browser would know what to do with it. Perhaps some extremely 
powerful
graphics app could understand it, but even then, that would be a developer and 
not a
"user" having such an app.

I submit to you that when a .gif is no longer a ,gif, we no longer effectively 
have
gif files in the CVS, not simply because we changed some alpha chars, but 
because we
have emasculated them as a result of that. Effectively, they are inert, unusable
objects in that altered state. Ironic because of redmond's dependance on file
extensions, but without its extension, the gif file is as impotent as a "fixed" 
cat.

Miles Lott (address@hidden) wrote*:
>
>Loic Dachary wrote:
>>         The current situation very well shows that the GNU project and
>> the FSF have no power, no control over phpGroupWare. The phpGroupWare
>> developers decided to join the GNU project and to comply to its policy
>> on their own will. They can decide to leave it if, after all, they
>> are not willing to comply to the GNU project policy. What kind of
>> power does the GNU project or the FSF have over this ?
>
>No, it is only a matter of time until we get bounced for non-compliance.
>If this is not the case, then lets stop talking about it.  It is boring
>and pointless.
>
>>         I think you can see the parallel between the two situations.
>
>The question of write access to the api is not a moral or ethical one.
>It is being done solely for technical reasons, not the least of which
>is avoiding a disaster when a developer who is not so versed in the
>API makes a change that negatively impacts the performance of one or
>all applications.  I guess you could stretch this to say that our
>ethics are such that we must exclude disarray ;)
>
>> As it turns out the FSF and the GNU project always do their best not
>> to reject people who violate the GNU policy, not to force them to
>> comply to it. Instead, even at the cost of a bad public image, they
>> ask them to comply to the policy and wait for them to do the change.
>> Make no mistake : the current situation of phpGroupWare being a GNU
>> project and contradicting the GIF boycott already is a problem.
>> There are people who know the GNU policy of boycotting GIF files,
>> who know that phpGroupWare is a GNU project and who know that
>> phpGroupWare distributes GIF files. As a consequence, all these people
>> think : the GNU project has an inconsistent policy.
>
>locate ".gif" | grep -v phpgroupware on savannah sometime...
>
>The facts and your statement here contradict what has been said
>previously,
>including within your email here.
>
>>         Despite of this problem, neither the GNU project, nor the FSF
>> is accusing phpGroupWare of doing damage to the GNU project. Instead
>> they just ask that you, please, help by complying to the GNU project
>> policy. In fact this is very close to the php3 compatibility policy
>> of phpGroupWare. When people do not comply they are asked to, again and
>> again. And some people are reluctant to it and claim that php4 is enough,
>> that there is no point supporting php3 anymore, that they won't help
>> supporting this obsolete version, that php4 legal issues are likely to
>> be solved in the months to come.
>
>Again, a technical reason, at least for me.  The main reason I care
>about
>the php3 compatibility is to not exclude people who either choose OR
>have
>no choice about the php version installed on their box (or hosting
>site).
>
>All this talk about morals and ethics should be balanced with this:
>Morals and ethics are ultimately up to each individual.  At least this
>is still true in most so-called free countries.  I realize that GNU and
>phpgroupware as well as most companies and software projects are not
>necessarily free societies.  There cannot be anarchy or totalitarianism
>with any expectation of an active and vital (software) community.
>I guess these are my ethics...
>
>--
>
>Miles Lott - http://milosch.net
>phpGroupWare - http://www.phpgroupware.org
>
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