Re: general policies

[bill-auger]

On Thu, 21 Sep 2023 17:30:53 +0200 Denis wrote:
> there is also some propaganda against GNU in general
> that use this idea that GNU is old and that people should try not
> to use it because of that and use newer things instead.

i dont want to harp on that point; but that propaganda is well founded - not
for the important stuff; but for pretty much everything else - you need look no
further than the relatively high-profile gnuzilla - they still are promoting as
their _only_ release, a browser which has been EOL since 2019, which the vast
majority of its target audience consider to be dangerously insecure - any such
propaganda about icecat would be squarely founded

the FSD now features a prominent warning _not_ to use icecat; which was the
responsible thing to do - i dont even care to criticize anymore - im done with
that game

they do not even suggest that newer versions are available in some distros or
in source form, and anyways have not published a source ball as the GNU
standards require, also since 2019 - the vast majority of people who read the
gnuzilla web page assume that the project is abandoned - if the project's goal
was to make the general public believe that GNU software was dreadfully
out-dated and ill-maintained, they could not be doing a better job at
perpetuating that myth - it is not an oversight nor due to lack of contributors
either - the project is actually quite healthy; but they obviously do not want
people to know that - it is a deliberate embarrassment by GNU maintainers -
there can be no other explanation - the misconception could be corrected in
minutes; but they will not do it

for the sake of GNU's reputation, i would rather cancel the project than to
present it as it is presented now - i used to give support in the IRC channel;
but i tired of apologizing - for years, ive asked them repeatedly, to present a
more accurate depiction of the project status, and stop promoting that old
browser than everyone should be warned not to use - i even explained this to
RMS multiple times - he doesnt seem to care that gnuzilla makes GNU look old
and unmaintained - he lets it be so - all i could do in the end, was to cut my
losses and stop trying to help that project

gnuzilla is not an isolated case, just the most prominent and clearly showing
the wrong face of GNU - its not unfounded propaganda - it is a serious problem
that GNU should address generally