
Elementary OS Freya Beta 2 - bndr
http://blog.elementaryos.org/post/110481021076/freya-beta-2-is-here
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nothrabannosir
Side-note: please don't publish checksums over unencrypted channels, and
please don't use MD5 for image checksums.

Technically, it's no problem if the intended use-case is not to verify against
tampering but against transmission errors. However, it's a fine line that
people easily cross by accident.

It helps with global education if we condition people to never accept
checksums from unencrypted sources, and to be wary of MD5.

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microhex
After that blog post of theirs where they called everyone who took advantage
of the free option they provide "cheaters", why would I want to use or
recommend a Linux distro that provides nothing but a shoddy OSX GUI ripoff?

~~~
meatfuck
By putting cheaters in quotes, you're putting words into their mouths. I
didn't find the word cheaters on that page. They are making a solid point
about the cost of open source software and about how free software isn't free.

~~~
bpeebles
The another blog post originally[1] had the phrase:

"We want users to understand that they’re pretty much cheating the system when
they choose not to pay for software."

And like, they have this on their home page:

"100% Free elementary OS is completely free, both in terms of pricing and
licensing."

So it's weird to mention cheating or talk about making it harder to download
for $0 while talking up the free pricing in their ad copy.

[1]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150211113458/http://blog.eleme...](https://web.archive.org/web/20150211113458/http://blog.elementaryos.org/post/110645528530/payments)

~~~
justin66
The statement on that page that I find most bothersome:

 _If we want to see the world of open source software grow, we should
encourage users to pay for its development; otherwise it’ll be underfunded or
developers will have to resort to backdoor deals and advertising. And nobody
wants that future._

There really are distros that have a business model which isn't shady. It's a
lot of work to do something like have a free version and an enterprise
version, you have to do boring things like sell and market and support, but
those sorts of things don't represent some kind of Open Source apocalypse.

There are even distros that have a business model of asking for donations
without being all passive-aggressive about it...

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spinatelli
I am an elementary OS user and I'm a cheater. Well, kind of..I installed Freya
when it started being developed and am following it's development. To those
people who say that it's just a "skin" on top of Ubuntu, and that they
shouldn't take let people pay for the work of others I say: then Ubuntu
shouldn't take donations for the work of Debian. Then Debian shouldn't take
donations for the work of the kernel developers. Then no-one should take money
from anyone, unless he's developing a single library that's not dependent on
anything. Also, if eOS is only a skin for Ubuntu, then Ubuntu is just a skin
for Debian, with its fancy Unity and other visual stuff..right? Nah. If you
cared to try, you would have seen why people like it. Because it's polished.
Because it's lightweight. Because there's care in the details. Basically,
everything that's missing from other DEs.

The wording in the post sure is wrong, but hey, they're not PR people and it's
easy to upset people on the internet. I don't feel like a cheater, but I feel
a bit guilty to not have donated to a project I use and like (even though I
submit bugs and stuff), and I think _that_ is the feeling they wanted to give
users that don't donate. People should be aware that if you don't have some
guy with a load of money that pays for development, or some other kind of
business that sustains your product, you're dependent on donations to keep the
project growing. Also, if you're not helping in any way (bugs, patches,
desing,..), a donation rewards someone else's work on important stuff (also
upstream projects!)

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bndr
Plus a new Beta site:
[http://beta.elementaryos.org/](http://beta.elementaryos.org/)

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matrixritter
Selling free software is perfectly legal as long as you provide the source
code. That's what Stallman itself said countless number of times. The "free"
in free software stands for "freedom", not "free beer".

I definitely accept this way of bringing money in the project. Software
development is time-intensive labour and time is money. You all know that, do
you?

Some mentioned "Let the business-people pay" (better known as "Open
Core"-model). This is only working if businesses are interested. Elementary OS
doesn't target business usage or has business-relevant elements, so that will
go nowhere.

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listic
Elementary OS. What's their deal (approach, unique selling point)?

~~~
rukittenme
A mix of technology, design, and community. The elementary community are
actually writing apps designed for their desktop which is sadly rare in other
distros. Everything they do is design oriented. Kind of feels Mac-ish but with
obvious speed and usability improvements. elementary's approach to multiple
desktops is much stronger than OSX's current offering. Their theme is a bit
stale now but the awesome elementary community is writing tons of gorgeous
themes (worlds better than anything on gnome-look). Unfortunately a lot of
them have weird quirks when run on non-elementary distros but they're perfect
on elementary

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jarcane
"Free and open" but the only way you can download it without it asking for a
credit card number is manually entering $0 in the "custom" field?

~~~
bndr
There's a clear explanation for that: Quote from their blog post:

"Why We Make You Type “$0” We want users to understand that paying for
software is important and not paying for it is an active choice. We didn’t
exclude a $0 button to deceive you; we believe our software really is worth
something. And it’s not an attempt to get rich quick; currently the only
people who have received money for working on elementary OS have been
community members through our bounty program.

It’s about asking a fair price to offset the costs of development. It’s about
securing the future of elementary OS to ensure we can keep making software
that millions of people love and use every day."

~~~
kitbrennan
While I understand their explanation - and agree with the theory - in practice
the same active choice would be achieved by displaying a $0 button that users
have to actively click on.

The simple fact is: when I first went to their website I assumed it was a paid
package.

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mohdmaqboolalam
waiting for the final version

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joshuapants
I find the window management to be pretty terrible. I guess this is trying to
bridge the beginner distro gap between Windows and Ubuntu, because I couldn't
see anyone seriously using it for very long. Then again I felt the same way
about GNOME3, so maybe I'm not in the majority there.

~~~
bndr
I actually find window management not that bad, it's similar to OS X in that
matter.

~~~
joshuapants
I can't disagree with you there, but my MBP does mostly sit gathering dust
unless I really need OSX for something. Different strokes.

It is pretty impressive how much they've been able to pull together in their
desktop environment and custom applications.

