Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
First, there is _no_ 100% replacement for Java. Go to http://packages.debian.org/, and ask it for a list of any package with 'Java' in the description located in the 'contrib' section.
You forgot non-free. Which is part of Debian, and which Debian promotes usage of. There Sun Java is included. Can you explain how Debian advances free software by including a non-free version of Java?
Look at the list of packages that Debian has freed from the Java trap. Are you _seriously_ telling me with all that, that Debian does not advance free software in this area?
Yes. Finding packages that others have written is not advancing free software. Writting said software on the other hand is.
So I take it that the GBN will not be advancing free software either then, (unless a free program is written to list GBN members).
It seems as if you sometimes constrain the meanings of your terms beyond what your readers expect; I can't see any natural way of interpreting Debians activity so that it cannot be said that they are advancing free software.
Sam