On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 10:55:57AM -0500, golinux@??? wrote:
> But what is the point? Our freedoms are being eroded on all fronts -
> we are drowning in a tsunami of reversal of choice dictated by those
> in power be they Debian or corporations or government.
> Rather than piss in the wind...

To make this a metaphor, what about pissing _upwind_?
I've seen some others suggest notifying upstream developers that making
systemd mandatory is a bad idea, and it (notifying them) seems like a
good idea, if only to make things easier for Devuan porters.

>I don't see that putting my (insignificant) name on a
>list of whiners as a productive action. It would just get laughed at
>and stomped on like ants by Paul Bunyan.

My name carries _no_ weight.
I'd make a joke about it carrying a negative amount of weight, but I
haven't made any enemies (that I know of).

The thing is, if we made a list with _every_ name on it, the list would
probably be pretty long.

It's less about _who_ is on the list, and more about _how many_ names
are listed.

It's hard to deny there is a problem in the face of a veritable tsunami
of proof.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Remember the "Halloween Documents"?

Microsoft said, and I quote:

"Note, however, that Compaq and Dell merely have to credibly threaten
Linux adoption in order to push for lower OEM OS pricing."
<http://www.catb.org/~esr/halloween/halloween2.html>

Linux distributions are the same way when it comes to users.

If a huge chunk of your user base threatened to switch, you'd think
twice about doing whatever it is that they don't like.

Debian knows that some people do not approve of systemd being mandatory,
but they might not now exactly _how many_ people disapprove.

Strength in numbers is the only way to effect (and resist) change.

Even if we don't change their minds, we would sow unrest, prompt some
users to look up what exactly systemd is, and ask questions.

Debian is becoming lost to us, but we don't have to let go of the
"universal operating system" and the principles upon which it was
created quietly.

We lost the battle (Debian Jessie uses systemd), but there is still a
war going on (systemd doesn't have 100% adoption yet).

I'm not saying we all go on the "offensive", but rather, we shouldn't
just silently watch as our beloved distribution rots from the inside!

If we don't do _something_, then who says the cancer will stop spreading
once it consumes Debian? Do you really want to manage seperate (and
eventually fundamentally different) forks of every single piece of
GNU software? (I'd rather not mess with _any_ GNU software, as the
Great Old Ones are likely waiting within the ungodly labyrinths that
they call "properly formatted code"!)

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