About creating software for the users (Debian)
It's that time again, Debian is preparing for a new release (just like, oh some, 3 years ago) and there lots of internal fights brewing. It would appear that there are people working towards making debian fully DFSG Compliant, which is nice. The problem is that it would require removing quite a few bits of the distribution that currently makes it usable. Firmwares and other bits that can't be distributed in source form for various reasons are now on the line.

I support free software and i know why this debate is going on. But i think there are people who are missing the bigger picture. We are loosing users due to the fact that debian just doesn't work on a lot of hardware. People go for Ubuntu and the alike. Then there are the other people who complain about Ubuntu stealing our users..

See the problem?

While the people at ubuntu try to keep the core distribution clean, they also provide easy access to the bits that people want. Providing people with 'what they want' is the thing that brings people to Ubuntu. It's not about selling out, it's about providing a service to your customers. Customers in free software world are the users. It's just like in the commercial world, we have the product and we hope that the customers want it. We can't force feed them, different customers have different needs. Either adapt to the demand or accept the fact that people go for something else because they want it.

Come on, lets start working towards providing our customers with the service that they want. Either that or stop bitching about loosing people to other distributions.